Fast friends
by ultimatelaurafan
Summary: A newlywed couple, Cage and Arrah Lay travel from Iowa to find a homestead. Their wagon wheel breaks down in front of the Wilder's home in Mansfield. This was my first story I ever wrote...I am contemplating on whether to delete it or not.
1. Chapter 1

A newlywed couple, Cage and Arrah Lay travel from Iowa to Missouri on their homesteading journey. Their wagon wheel happens to break in front of the Wilder's home, Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield. ...

This is a story that I am writing. It's kind of like a Little House on the Prairie fanfiction, but in it I am adding incidents of my ancestry. Things that went on in their lives. Even my characters are based on them. I will explain after each chapter. I hope you enjoy this, and I hope it's not lame! lol. Well let's get on with the story! :)

Here are my main characters.

Almanzo "Manly" James Wilder= Age 37

Laura Elizabeth "Beth" Ingalls Wilder= Age 27

Jennifer "Jenny" Celestia Wilder = Age 15 (I couldn't think of a middle name for Jenny, so I used Carrie Ingalls' middle name, I think it's pretty.)

Rose Acacia Wilder= Age 8

Micajah "Cage" Harvey Lay= Age 20

Arrah Franziska Krolick Lay= Age 19 (Franziska is my middle name and Krolick is my last name, I thought it would be cool to use!)

Drew Tilden Lay= Age 16

Graham Nathaniel Lay= Age 9

Leslie Daniel Lay= Age 2

*Lay is actually the last name of one of my ancestors, and I really like that name so I wanted to use it.

There are other characters but for right now they are just mentioned they may be reacurring characters later.

New homesteaders Micajah and Arrah Lay were traveling in a covered wagon for months from Iowa, ready to start their life together as husband and wife. It seemed like only yesterday that the two had married. Arrah, a girl of just 19 years of age, smiled up at her new husband. It was only a few months ago that they were married, and of course everything still seemed new to her. Being a wife, that is. Micajah, or "Cage" as Arrah called him, who was only a year older than she, loved the fact that she was finally his. They only had two years of courting, but to Cage, it seemed like an eternity. He told his new wife the night of their wedding that he felt like Jacob from the Bible. Most of you probably know the story, Jacob working for Laban for 7 years for his wife Rachel, and then working another 7 just to marry her... Except in Cage's case, he wasn't tricked by his future father-in-law into marrying his betrothed's older sister as Jacob was! Cage's thoughts drifted back to their honeymoon until Arrah's voice interrupted him.

"Cage, where exactly are we going?"

"I'll know it when I see it, sweetheart." answered Micajah. He looked at her, and in his eyes shone the love he had for her,... "Besides, as long as I'm with you,...it doesn't matter where I go."

Smiling, Arrah rested her head on Cage's shoulder, and put a small white hand on his arm. Her eyes wandered across the prairie, enjoying the view before them. "What were you thinking about, it seemed to me like you were 1,000 miles away or something?"

Cage looked down at her and smiled his cute half-smile she absolutely loved. "Our honeymoon."

Arrah thought about her honeymoon, like most young girls of her time, she knew that day was, in a sense, the scariest day of her life, but next to the day she married Cage, her happiest. "You still can't take your mind off of it?" She asked, blushing a little.

"Nope." He said as he sweetly smiled at her and gently kissed her soft, pink, lips.

As they release their kiss, they heard a slight cracking sound.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed. "Not that pesky wagon wheel again!... it doesn't seem like it'll hold out much longer." Arrah had a worried look on her face. "It's alright sweetheart, I'll fix it when the time comes, but we'll see how far we can go on it for now." He reassures her. They travel up the dirt wagon trail for a while, but the wheel soon breaks, and the front part of the wagon crashes to the ground.

Cage puts his arms around his young wife's shoulders. " You alright sweetheart?" He checked to see if she had been hurt.

Arrah began to relax as his strong arms enveloped her own body. She felt so safe and secure in them. ... "I'm fine Cage. ...You try and fix the wheel and I'll go check on the boys."

Cage jumps down from the wagon, and put his hands around his wife's tiny waist to help her down.

"Thank you." Arrah said smiling, as Cage's hands were still wrapped around her waist. When he released her, she walked to the back of the wagon. "You boys alright?"

"Yep, Arrah we're fine back here." 16 year old Drew said to his sister-in-law. Smokey, the family German Shepherd nuzzled against him and layed her head on his lap. Drew scratched her behind the ears.

"Yeah, we're tough, we can take it!" Drew's 9 year old brother said.

"We ain't skeered of nuffin'!" 2 year old Leslie piped up, not wanting to be unnoticed.

"Ok then, Mr. Men" Arrah said playfully to young Leslie. "I just wanted to check on you boys. Are you and Drew keeping up with you studies, Graham?" She said with her hands on her hips.

"Yep Arrah, I making sure we do, shoot, I'm like a regular schoolmaster!" Drew said with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah and I wish he wouldn't,...I don't like school!" Graham said with one hand pressed against his cheek.

"You just wait little mister, all that book-learnin' will come in handy someday."

"I suppose." Graham said with a sigh.

Arrah smiled and laughed to herself as she walked back to where her husband was trying to fix the wheel. She walked up behind him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "How's the wheel comin' sweetie?"

"It's getting there." He replied. Arrah stands close beside him and he puts his hand on her lower back. A cute little girl in a red calico dress and a cream-colored pinafore comes up to the young married couple.

"Hey mister, do ya need some help with your wagon wheel? My name's Rose Wilder. I'm eight."

Cage gets down on his knees so that his is almost eye-level with Rose. "It's nice to meet you Miss Rose, I'm not sure, but I think I've just about got it... Thank you kindly though." He said as he ran a hand over her little head, and gently tugged on a brown braid. An older girl who looked like she was about 15 years old approached the three of them.

"Rose what in blazes are you up to now?" She said with a laugh.

"Nothin' I'm just introducing myself to the visitors." replied Rose.

"I'm Jenny Wilder, Rose's cousin." Jenny said as she shook Cage's hand.

"Micajah Lay," said Cage. "And this is my wife Arrah."

"It's nice to meet you Jenny," Arrah said, shaking her hand.

"Rose, how about you go in and tell Aunt Laura that we have company." Jenny said to her cousin, who was almost up the front steps.

"That girl!" Jenny said, chuckling. "She's so full of pip and vineagar!"

"That kind of reminds me of another girl." Cage says as he smiles at Arrah with his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Oh Cage stop it!...You're embarrassing me" Arrah said, her cheeks turning a crimson color.

"So where are you two from?" Jenny asked them, curiously.

"Iowa." Arrah replied. "We're looking for just the right place to settle down."

"Well, Mansfield, Missouri is good of a place as any."

"I've noticed. It's beautiful here." Arrah smiled.

Then, Rose and a young woman in her late 20's came up to meet them. "Hello, I'm Laura Ingalls

Wilder." She said as she shook Arrah's hand.

"Arrah Krolick Lay,... and this is my husband Micajah."

"Call me Cage." He said, shaking Laura's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Do you need some help with that wagon wheel?...I'm sure my husband Almanzo wouldn't mind fixing it for you."

Almanzo comes in from the barn, wiping his hands on a small cloth. "You call me Beth?"

"Oh Manly, I just wondered if you could fix this wagon wheel. By the way, this is Cage and Arrah Lay. They've traveled here all the way from Iowa." Almanzo nodded hello to both Cage and Arrah.

A head peaks out from the back of the wagon. "Can we please get out now, Arrah?"

"Sure, Graham." Arrah replied to the boy. "I"ll help Leslie out of the wagon."

Graham jumps out of the wagon, followed by Drew. Arrah grabs Leslie, balances him on her hip, and walks back to where everyone is standing.

"Almanzo, Jenny, Laura, Rose,... these are my three brother-in-laws Drew, Graham, and this is Leslie. He's two."

"Hi boys." Almanzo said, shaking the two older boys' hands. "I'm Almanzo Wilder."

"It's very nice to meet you." Laura says to each of the boys.

"It's hard to think of a two-year-old being your brother-in-law. ...How old are you guys anyway?" Rose asked Arrah curiously.

"Rose!...It isn't polite to ask such things!" Laura scolded.

"Laura, it's fine! She can ask me that." said Arrah, laughing. "Well Rose, I am 19 years old and my husband Cage, he's 20 years old... I guess it would be quite peculiar to you seeing a two-year-old is my brother-in-law... Cage has three older brothers named Mathis, Josef, and John." Arrah laughed at her own little joke, "I guess Cage's parents wanted to have a 'second family' when Drew, Graham, and Leslie came along."

"I guess so!" Laura laughs along with her "Aww...they're such good-looking boys... How old are you Drew?"

"I'm 16, Ma'am." replied Drew.

"And you, Graham?"

"I'm 9 years old, Mrs. Wilder." Graham slips his hand into Arrah's and looks up at her. "Can we have dinner soon, Arrah? I'm hungry!"

"Well, come inside and we'll all have lunch together!" Laura said.

"Oh, Laura we wouldn't want to impose." Arrah said, trying to politely protest to the idea. "Besides, you just met us." She set Leslie down on the ground. He, for once, stood quietly beside her.

"Balderdash!" Almanzo said. "We want you all to, besides I think we all could enjoy the fellowship."

Arrah looked at her husband as to what his decision would be, and he nodded as if to say, yes. "Alright then!" said Arrah, smiling. "But boys, I want you to be on your best behavior, no touching anything in the Wilder home." Her voice was stern, but still kind.

"Oh Arrah, they'll be fine. They seem like good boys to me." Almanzo said.

Well let's come inside and we'll eat later." Laura said to everyone.

Leslie tugged on Arrah's dress. "But what about Smokey girl? If we're all inside, she'll be all alone!"

Arrah bent over and picked Leslie up again. "Les, don't worry about Smokey girl. She likes the outside, she'll be fine.

"You have a dog?" Rose asked.

"Yes, she's a German Shepherd."

"Can we see her?" Rose asked excitedly. "I love dogs!"

"If it's alright with your Ma." Arrah smiled.

"Can we Mama?" Rose asked, her eyes lighting up. Jenny looked interested too.

"All right." Laura smiled. Rose, Jenny, Laura, Arrah and the boys went to the back of the wagon to see Smokey girl.

"Well, let's go tend to that wheel of yours." Almanzo said to Cage while slapping him on the back. Before leaving, Almanzo kissed his wife on the cheek, and told her they'd be in shortly. While the menfolk were fixing the wheel, the women and children went inside to talk in the sitting room.

"So I hope you don't mind me asking, but why are you taking care of your brother-in-law's, Mrs. Lay?" Jenny asked.

"Well Jenny, I knew that question would turn up sooner or later, ..." Arrah said while taking a seat in a chair and settled Leslie on her lap. "Cage's Pa died a while back of a heart attack,... their Ma wasn't quite right after Silas died. She died shortly after he did..."

"Did she die of a broken heart?" Jenny asked.

"I guess you could say that, Jenny. … She loved that man dearly."

"How sad if she died of a broken heart." Laura pensively said.

"Charlotte was a great lady,... she would have made a wonderful mother-in-law."

"You and Cage weren't married before she...passed on?" Laura asked.

"No... I only knew her when Cage and I were courting. We courted for two years and then she... died." Her voice was solemn. "Pa Lay died a month after I first met Cage."

"Can we stop talking about Ma and Pa now?... Please?" Graham asked, quietly.

"Of course Graham, I'm sorry if I've upset you. I never meant to." Arrah told him.

"It's alright Arrah, I just miss 'em,... that's all."

"I understand." Arrah said and smiled at him.

"Well if you will excuse me, I will get lunch ready," Laura said as she turned to the kitchen door. "Rose?"

"Yes Mama?"

"How about getting out your building blocks that Grandpa Ingalls made for you, and let Leslie play with them?"

"Yes Ma'am." Rose said and scurries up to her and Jenny's room.

"Here Laura, let me help you with lunch." Arrah said as she followed her into the kitchen. They began to get ready a chicken pot-pie and other fixings. Laura also had some lemonade ready in advance.

"So you're new homesteaders?" Laura asked as she was kneading some dough for the top of the chicken pot-pie.

"Yes ma'am,...I'm still not sure exactly where we're going,...Cage says he'll know when he sees it."

"I'll know it when I see it." Laura said as a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Sounds just like my Pa,...he always said that whenever we moved somewhere."

"Men,"... Arrah said smiling," You almost wonder if they had it planned out, and they just tell you that to keep you in suspense."

"I know the feeling," said Laura, giggling. "and by the way, Arrah?"

"Yes?" Arrah asked as she was cutting up some vegetables.

"You don't have to call me ma'am..." She said almost laughing. "I not that much older than you."

"Well, I just wanted to be respectful," Arrah said with a smile. "How old are you?"

"I'm 27."

"Same age as my cousin Adam." Arrah said.

"I have a brother-in-law named Adam." Laura said, checking on the chicken. "Oh, I think that chicken's done." She brought the chicken on the cutting board on the table, and the two women started cutting it up. "Adam and my sister Mary live in New York. He's a lawyer up there. ...I really miss them, I haven't seen them since,...oh since I don't know when."

"It must be exciting to live in such a large place like New York City." Arrah shyly smiled.

Laura smiled and said, "We've been writing back and forth to each other. Mary says she's gotten quite tired of city life. ...I don't blame her, it must be quite hard at times, knowing she can't see. You know, being in such a crowded place and all."

"Mary's blind." Arrah stated.

"Yes. So was Adam for the longest time, but as a result of some freak firecracker accident, he regained his sight."

Meanwhile, with the kids playing in the Wilder's sitting room. "No Leslie! You play like this!...You're just knocking them down!" Rose said, trying to build a tower with 2 year old Leslie.

"Rose he's little. He doesn't know how to play," Jenny said to her cousin. "You need to have patience with him and teach him how to do it."

"Yeah, like this Les." Graham takes both of Leslie's hands and a few blocks and helps him build a small tower. "Now you try it with him, Rose."

"Ok." Rose said with a sigh, her patience sort of waring thin with Leslie. She also tries to build a tower with Leslie. "Good job Rose!" Graham says as he gives her a high-five.

"C'mon Les, see if ya can do it by yourself." Leslie builds his own little tower with the building blocks, but then he knocks it down again.

"Well, at least you tried, Les." Graham said.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile, Jenny and Drew are sitting next to each other on the fancy, little couch,...talking.

"So,...is it exciting being a homesteader?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah...whenever we find a place for our farm, I helping with some of the farm work...My three older brothers are also farmers, so I guess it kind of runs in the family."

"Do you think you'll be farmer one day?" Jenny asked him, smiling.

"I reckon." Drew said. "Considering my age, I could probably have my own farm now...but I want to help out Cage and Arrah and get a little experience first, ya know?"

"I think that that's very sweet of you, Drew," Jenny said, looking into his green eyes. "You wanting to help out your family like that."

"What about you Jenny?" Drew asked.

"What about me, exactly?"

"Ya think you'll ever be a farmer's wife?" Drew asked, smiling a crooked smile, just like his older brother.

Jenny blushed a little. "Yeah, I guess so...I don't think a could be a writer or a teacher or something like that."

"Aww Jenny, never say you can't do somethin'. Arrah always tells me, ya can do anything ya put your mind to,..."Follow your dreams and reach for the stars."

"It's that another thing Arrah tells you?"

"Nope,...that's what I always say." Drew smiled. "I've got a question Jenny, and I hope you don't mind me asking..."

"Ok,...what is it?"

"Why are you living with your aunt and uncle.?"

"Well, my Ma and Pa died a few years ago...Pa knew that he was going to die beforehand and he wanted me to live with Uncle Manzo and Aunt Laura. They adopted me when I was twelve... You and your brothers are adopted too, right Drew?"

"Yeah,... Jenny,...can we go out on the porch and talk?"

"Let me ask Aunt Laura first." Jenny leaves and walks into the kitchen.

"Aunt Laura?"

"Yes Jenny?" Laura asked while getting things out to set the table.

"May Drew and I go out on the porch?"

"Whatever for?" Laura asked, smiling.

"Just to talk."

"Alright, but lunch is almost ready."

"Yes ma'am." Jenny said. Jenny walked back into the sitting room. "C'mon Drew, Aunt Laura said it's ok." Jenny said motioning to the door. Jenny and Drew walked out onto the porch, and Jenny sits down on the steps.

"Thanks Jenny," Drew said as he sat down next to her. "...I worry about my brothers sometimes, they really miss Ma and Pa, especially Graham...That's why I wanted our conversation to be a little... private just in case we started talking about them again...They're not as strong as I am in that aspect,...so I look out for them in that way.

"It must have been quite tragic for them,...having their parents die, with them being so young and all." Jenny said.

"Graham misses them so much...It seems more and more each day. Leslie didn't even know Pa, he died before he was even born, but I know he misses Ma. There's no doubt about that. He was so attached to her, kind of like he is to Arrah." Drew said, solemnly. "When Ma and Pa died,... at first we were tossed back and forth from each of my older brothers...Mathis didn't treat us as he should have...He said we just got in the way most of the time."

"That's unbelievable that your own brother would even say that!"

"Well when Arrah and Cage got married, they adopted us and everything worked out fine."

"I can see they love and care about you deeply." Jenny said.

"Yeah." Drew smiled. "They do, and they're more involved in our lives than my other brothers are."

Laura peaks her head thru the door . "Jenny?"

"Yes, Aunt Laura?"

"Will you go get Manly and Cage? Lunch is ready."

"Yes Ma'am." Jenny answered.

"Drew, you can come in now if you'd like."

"Thank you ma'am, but may I walk Jenny out to the barn?" Drew asked.

"Of course, you kids have fun." Laura said. She smiled, watching them walk all the way to the barn. The young people talking all the way there." Laura thought, 'Hmmm,...Jennifer Celestia Wilder Lay, sounds kind of nice.' She then laughed to herself and put the thought out of her head, knowing Manly wouldn't let Jenny grow up so soon.

"Uncle Manzo, Mr. Lay?" Jenny called to them while she and Drew entered the barn.

"Yeah Jenny?" Almanzo said while setting the wheel up on it's side to look at it.

"Aunt Laura says that lunch is ready."

"Alright we'll walk out with you." said Almanzo.

"Did you get the wheel fixed Uncle Manzo?"

"Yep."

"By the way, Almanzo. Thank you for fixing it for us. You helped us out tremendously." Cage tries to slip a few dollars in Almanzo's hand, but he declines it.

"No Cage, I won't take your money."

"Please? It's the least we could do. You helping out total strangers like ya have." Cage said and once again put the money in his hand.

"Guess it looks like you're not taking no for an answer." Almanzo said. "But don't think of it as stranger helping stranger. It's more like a friend helping out a friend."

"I appreciate you calling us friends of yours." Cage said as they were walking back to the house.

"Plus, I think you and your wife remind me a bit of Laura and I."

"Well from what I've seen Almanzo, I hope to have a good marriage like yours."

"Oh, I'm so hungry I think I'll eat the prettiest thing I see!" Almanzo said as he started to chase Jenny around the yard.

"Uncle Manzo!" Jenny was laughing hysterically.

Laura is is out on the porch watching the whole thing. "Almanzo James Wilder, what in the world are you doing?" She said, laughing at him.

"Speakin' of pretty things..." Almanzo jogs up the steps and kisses Laura and he puts his hands around her waist.

"Manly, now that's enough of that," Laura laughs. "The luncheon is ready." They walk inside the house and into the dining room where Arrah, Rose, and the boys were waiting for them.

"I hope you you all are hungry." Laura said as everyone was taking their seats at the table.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Graham said.

"I could eat two of 'em." said Leslie, who was sitting on Arrah's lap. Thinking that was such a cute, funny thing for a little boy to say, everyone at the table laughed. "Well I could, if I was hungry enough!" Leslie said.

"Well, let's say a word of prayer before we eat,...we usually hold hands if that's ok"

"Of course. There's nothing wrong with tradition." Cage said. So, Almanzo held Laura's hand. Laura held Graham's. Graham held Rose's. Rose held Jenny's. Jenny held Drew's hand. Drew held Cage's. Cage held Arrah's..."What about me? Don't I get to hold somebody's hand?"

"You can hold mine, Les." Arrah said, smiling and grasping his small hand.

Almanzo bowed his head and prayed for the meal. "Dear Lord, thank you for this wonderful food we are about to receive. Bless it to our bodies. Thank you that we've met the Lay family. Bless them as they find a homestead, may their joys be many and their sorrows few. Amen."

"Amen." Everyone repeated. Rose stated that Almanzo said the Lay's were a "family". She told him she didn't understand and she thought a family was a Ma, a Pa, and their children. Arrah told her that anyone who is related and love each other can be a family... She also added that they have adopted the boys, and that they would feel strange calling their brother and sister-in-law, 'Ma and Pa'." Drew said that no one in the world could ever replace their real Ma and Pa, anyway...

So the Wilder's and the Lay's ate lunch together. They enjoyed each other's fellowship so much that the Lay's stayed for supper that night as well. One of the conversations at the suppertable was of course, homesteading.

"Do you have any idea where you'll be settling down, Cage?" Laura asked.

"Maybe here,... know of any good places to build a farm on?

"And whatever happened to 'I'll know it when I see it'?" Arrah asked, giving him her famous glare. She then smiled over at Laura, remembering their conversation from earlier in the day.

"I said I was thinking about it." Cage told her. "We'll talk about it tonight when the boys are asleep."

"Speaking of which, where are all of you staying?" Almanzo asked.

We'll probably be sleeping in the wagon, or we might stay in a hotel." Cage said.

"Nonsense, you'll stay here." Almanzo said. "Besides, hotels are so expensive and there's no sense on wasting your hard earned money on things like that." Cage was about to say something, but Almanzo cut him off telling him that they had an extra room for them to stay in. Cage looked at his wife deciding that they would stay at the Wilder's for tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

"All right, I'll get the things we need for tonight out of the wagon." Arrah said. "Drew, Graham, will you boys come and help me?"

"Yes Ma'am." Drew said, and he and Graham followed her outside to the wagon. Arrah grabbed the Family Bible, a few books (in case they wanted to read before bed), and the carpet bags with everyone's clothes in them. "Graham, you grab 3 of the bedding mats for you boys to sleep on, please? And Drew, could you grab one of the ropes, some nails, and few of the quilts?"

"All right Arrah." Said Drew, and the boys did as they were told.

"Oh and grab a hammer as well, please."

Drew found the hammer that was mixed in with all of the other tools put in the extra wash basin. He got out of the wagon and found Graham and Arrah waiting for him. "Ya know, Arrah, I could carry my carpet bag, Graham and Leslie's too." Drew said taking the bags from her.

"But I wanna carry my own carpet bag!" Graham whined.

"Well fine then! Carry your own bag!" Drew said, raising his voice and shoving the carpet bag at Graham's stomach. "I just wanted to help."

"Drew, you don't need to be so stern with your brother." Arrah said, scolding him.

"Yes Ma'am." Drew said looking down at his feet.

Leslie comes out the door and runs up to them. "What can I do to help?"

Arrah gets down on her knees and holds Leslie's hands in both of hers. "You can help by being a good little boy for me, ok Leslie?" She stroked his mop of blonde hair.

"But I want to help carry something!"

Arrah thought for a moment and then said, "Ok Leslie,...you can carry this." She handed him a small bag made of dark blue calico fabric, tied at the top with a red ribbon. The ribbon acted as a drawstring so you could open it. Arrah had made it.

"What's in it?" Leslie asks.

"You'll find out before you go to bed."

"Is it a present for me?" Leslie asks and looks up at his sister-in-law.

"Yes it is." She answers him. Her lips form into a smile.

"But my birthday isn't till next week!" Leslie said with his chocolate-brown eyes shining with glee. Arrah smiled down at him as they walked hand in hand back to the house and up the steps, with Graham and Drew following behind them. They took their things upstairs and into the room. After supper was finished, everyone settled into the sitting room, seated on chairs and the little couch. Almanzo played his guitar and Young Drew played the fiddle. For a few hours, they played some songs together, but then Manly gave it a rest and let Drew play by himself for a while. Everyone was enjoying a nice hot cup of cambric tea, and listening to the beautiful music coming from Drew's fiddle. The sweet sounds of the fiddle played, "Great is the Lord." and everyone sang along.

"Great is the Lord

And greatly to be praised

In the city of our God,

In the mountain of his holiness..."

"Oh Drew! That was wonderful!" Laura exclaimed when the song was finished. "Your playing sounds a lot like my Pa's did when I was a little girl!"

"Thank you Mrs. Wilder. Do you have a favorite song you'd like me to play?" Drew asked.

"Oh, I can't think of any thing right now... Rose, you pick the song." Laura said tapping her eight year old daughter on the shoulder.

Rose grinned up at Drew. "Do you know Polly Wolly Doodle?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, sure I do!" He said.

He started to play and everyone sang and clapped along to the music.

"Oh, I went down south for to see my Sal,

Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap)!

My Sally was a spunky gal.

Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap).

Fare thee well (clap, clap)

Fare thee well (clap, clap)

Fare thee well my fairy fay (clap, clap)

For I'm off to Louisiana, for to see my Suzy-Anna,

Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap)."

Cage, being his somewhat goofy self, lifted Arrah out of her chair and started dancing a very lively waltz with her. Arrah also had a sense of humor, so she went along with it, laughing with each dance step they took. When the music stopped, Cage fell back into his empty chair and pulled Arrah on top of him and both collapsed into a heap of laughter.

"Oh you dance divinely, Mr. Lay." Arrah teased, laughing and trying to catch her breath..

"So do you, my beautiful dance partner!" Cage laughed and kissed her.

"That was fun Drew, I like that song!" Graham said to his brother as he finished playing.

"Me too." Said Rose. "It's my favorite."

After a while, Leslie, who was now sitting on Arrah's lap, let out a yawn and snuggled up to her.

"I guess I best be getting this little one up to bed. He's plumb tuckered out!" She said stroking his blonde hair.

"I think it's time for both of you girls to be getting up to bed, too." Almanzo said.

"Yes Papa." Rose said while giving her mother and father a hug and kiss on the cheek. Jenny did the same. "Goodnight Uncle Manzo...Goodnight Aunt Laura."

"Have a good sleep Jenny." Laura said.

"Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Lay." Said Jenny, wanting to be polite to their company.

"Goodnight Jenny." They said. Jenny and Rose headed up to their room.

"I think I'll be heading up to bed too. I'm all played out!" Drew said.

"From the fiddle or you're really tired?" asked Almanzo, chuckling.

"Both." Drew said, with his thumbs hooked in his pockets. "Goodnight."

Then Graham, Drew, and Arrah who was carrying a half-asleep Leslie went up to the room. Arrah put all three of the bedding mats on the floor together side by side. She nailed one side of the rope on one side of the room, and the other on the other side of the room and hung the quilt on the rope.

"Why are you doin' that Arrah?" asked Leslie who was now awake.

"For privacy." She said. "Graham and Drew, you boys can get changed here, ok?...You, Mr. Leslie come with me and I'll get you ready for bedtime."

She picked Leslie up and went behind the quilt, and sat down on the bed with Leslie. "Drew, be sure to shut the door when you're changing."

"Yes Arrah." Drew said and shut the door, and they undressed and changed into their nightshirts and got under the covers.

Arrah was sitting on the bed with Leslie, and helped him take off his dark brown suspenders, undid his brown trousers, and unbuttoned each button on his red and brown plaid shirt. For being somewhat poor, Arrah always made sure the boys always had clothes to wear, even if it meant that she went without every once in awhile. Arrah dressed Leslie into his gray and white pinstripe nightshirt and he scurried off to bed with his older brothers. Arrah came in to tuck the boys into bed, and gave each boy a kiss on the forehead. Leslie gave her a hug goodnight.

"Can you tell us a story to help us go to sleep, Arrah?" Leslie asked.

"Of course I will,...I've never told you the story of the Blue Forget-Me-Nots have I?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Leslie said, settling himself under the dark red and blue diamond pattern quilt, with Graham on one side of him and Drew on the other.

"Well it's an old German legend that my Pa used to tell me when I was a little girl." Arrah told them as she began the story. "When God created all the beautiful flowers and gave them all a name, one little white flower forgot the name that God gave it..."

"Well, what did the little flower do?" Leslie asked, interested in the story.

"The little flower was so sad that it turned blue and it told the Lord, ' I have forgotten the name that Thou hast given me.' "

"What did God tell the little flower?" Graham asked.

"God said to the little flower that He would give the flower a new name...He called the little blue flower 'Forget Me Not'."

"It's kind of like what the Lord does for us when we get saved, we go from being a sinner to a Christian." Drew said.

"Very good thinking, Drew... And we must never forget God and what He has done for us," Arrah said. "Goodnight boys," She said with her pearly-white smile shining down at them. "I love you."

"We love you too, Arrah." Drew said, reaching up to hug her. Arrah knew she wouldn't be having many of these special moments with him left so she savored the moment, Drew was almost a grown man and quite handsome much like his older brother. Arrah knew that any sweet young girl would be lucky to have him for a husband.

"G'night." Graham said and looked over to his youngest brother who was already asleep. Arrah laughed a small quiet laugh and kissed his small forehead "Goodnight." She whispered as she blew out the boy's lantern. She left the bedroom and went downstairs into the sitting room and sat down in a chair between Cage and Laura.

"I swear!...Sometimes I feel more like their mother than their sister-in-law." Arrah smiled and was silent for a moment but then spoke, "Oh,...but they need a mother-figure. Someone they can look up to in that way."

"It must be hard for them sometimes," Laura said, "I can see they loved their Ma, and no one could replace a person like in a child's life."

"Though,...being a mother-figure to them is nice," Arrah slips her hand into Cage slightly larger one. "Plus it's good practice." She smiles at him.

"Are you two expecting?" Laura asked.

"Oh no." Arrah said, with her cheeks turning a light shade of red. She was slightly embarrassed. "We've tried a few times before, but nothing's come of it..."

"Yet." Cage said, holding her hand in both of his. He kissed her forehead. "and I expect to have a whole bushel of 'em too."

"Cage." Arrah's cheeks turn even more crimson.

"So how did you two meet?" Almanzo asked.

Arrah looked at her husband and smiled. She put her small hand on top of his, and her thumb brushes over his wedding ring, and she looks down at her own. "Would you like to tell our story Cage, or shall I?"

"You tell them. You tell it better than I do." Cage said and kissed Arrah's cheek.

"Well, I was a 16 year old Iowa farm girl, and every summer it was my job to herd my family's two cows to their grazing spot. One day I heard someone coming up the road. I didn't recognize the person. He was a fair-haired, green-eyed young man, wearing a black Derby hat, and he had a newspaper tucked under his arm. He called a greeting to me, but I didn't answer him."

"She was being snobby." Cage teasingly said and then laughed.

"I most certainly was not! I figured I didn't know you then, so I didn't need to answer you." Arrah smiled, her brown eyes twinkling with laughter.

"Sweetheart,...that's called snubbing a person." Cage said smiling a crooked smile.

"It is not, it's called being shy," Arrah said quickly and laughed.

"Anyway he said hello to me again, and again I didn't answer him. He went up the hill a ways, and sat down at a tree to read. I kept watching him out of the corner of my eye. I was wondering what he thought of me. That summer had ended and one day I was getting ready to go to a picture show with one of my friends. I heard some voices coming from downstairs, which was nothing knew in our home, because my older brothers Micah and Amos would always have friends over, and I went downstairs. I saw the young man with the Derby hat next to my brother Micah, and immediately he came to me, shook my hand and told me that he knew I was the girl herding the cattle that past summer. I apoligized to him about not returning his greeting on the day we met. He said it was alright... Later we started courting and you know how the story ends up..." Arrah said holding Cage's hand.

"What a sweet little story." Laura said.


	4. Chapter 4

"What color did you wear for you wedding dress, Arrah?" Laura asked.

"I wore a tan dress." Arrah smiles. "That reminds me of a poem."

"Married in white, you have chosen right.

Married in blue, your love will always be true.

Married in pearl, you will live in a whirl.

Married in brown, you will live out of town.

Married in red, you will wish yourself dead.

Married in yellow, ashamed of your fellow.

Married in green, ashamed to be seen.

Married in pink, of you only he'll think.

Married in gray, you will go far away.

Married in black, you will wish yourself back."

"I wore a light green dress for my wedding," said Laura who glanced over at Almanzo. "No Manly, I was not ashamed to be seen at our wedding." She said, patting his knee.

"Good...'cause ya had me worried there for a second." He said, laughing.

"Mine was a dark tan, almost brown, but not quite...It suited me well. It's one of my best dresses now."

"Hey, there's no rhyme for a tan dress in that poem." Almanzo said, grinning.

Arrah thought for a moment till her eyes once again had their special sparkle in them. "I've got it!...Married in tan, proud of your man!"

"Very clever." said Cage, flashing a smile at his young wife.

"And it's true too." Arrah kissed his forehead. "I love you." The clock on the Wilder's fireplace mantle strikes midnight. "Well if you'll excuse us, we'll be heading up to bed. Goodnight Laura, Almanzo."

"Goodnight." Laura said to both Cage and Arrah.

"I expect you'l be leaving in the morning?" Almanzo questioned.

"That's what we're planning on doing." Cage said.

"Oh." Almanzo and Laura's hearts sank. They didn't want the Lays to leave. They became fast friends and even though they had just met one another, it seemed like they had known each other their whole lives. Deep in their hearts, Cage and Arrah knew it too.

The young couple went up to the room that the Wilder's had made up for them and began to get ready for bed. Arrah took off her rust-colored dress, unbuttoning each gold button, going all the way up to the dress' collar. She hung the dress on a peg and placed her boots on the floor below it, and standing in her petticoats and underthings, she silently admired the dress. Her mother, Josephine had helped her make it after Arrah saw a simaliar dress in their local mercantile, and she fell in love with it. The sleeves went all the way to her wrists, the bodice was tight-fitting, and the hem of the dress went to her ankles, to the top of her black lace-up boots. Her fingers brushed over a button on the dress. Her father, Harrison had carved a beautiful design of a flowered vine on each shiny, gold, button. Each little vine had eight little flowers on it, and it made her think of her folks. She longed to see her parents again, and her three older brothers Micah, Amos and Bennet, and her two younger sisters, Callah and Pearl. The dress meant much to her, as it made her think of home and family... Much like her new friend Laura did, she used her dress for her first teaching job at the young age of sixteen.

She put on her lacy, white, nightgown and sat on the bed. She proceeded to take out her braided bun and brush out her long, reddish-brown hair. Her hair was wavy from being tucked up all day and it seemed to glow in the lamplight. Cage loved it when Arrah brushed out her hair every night, and he was proud to know that this young lady, his wife, was the only woman he would ever see in that way. Just the thought made him smile. He sat on the bed behind Arrah and ran his fingers through her beautiful hair.

"I absolutely love your hair." He whispers, his warm breath tickling her ear. He kissed her neck, taking in the sweet scent of her vanilla-scented perfume. "But you know I love you more." He smiles at her. Arrah just stared at him. She thought she knew what he was trying to do. Cage always wanted to have their special time each night, but, Arrah wasn't quite feeling up to it this night. He tried kissing her on the lips, but Arrah turned her head and the kiss fell innocently on her cheek.

"Cage we can't do this here. Not tonight." She tells him, her voice but a whisper.

"Sure we can." Cage said, lifting his eyebrows. He tried removing her nightgown, but she pulls it back down and gets up. "Cage..." She says, glaring at him.

"What?" He says smiling at her. "I thought you wanted to try again for a baby."

"Cage, you know I do, its just that..." She said, facing the window, her arms crossed at her waist.

"What sweetheart? I don't understand." Cage said, his eyebows furrowing.

"It's just that...are you sure we're ready for something like that." She says, sitting back down, facing him, with the palm of her hand slightly pressed on the bed. "I mean we have so much that we have to do...We need to find land, build a house, a farm, a garden, we need to find a school for the boys,...and most importantly we need to try and live on our land for five whole years..." Arrah was saying this quite quickly until Cage put his finger to her lips, leaned in and kissed her gently. Cage looked at her, his forehead pressed against hers, and he held her small hand. "We'll do it all...Together." He smiled.

"Together." She whispered, smiling. "As long as we're together." She kissed his cheek. "And in God's timing." She added.

Arrah got under the patchwork quilt and when Cage undressed and was in his nightshirt, he joined her. "Goodnight." Arrah said, laying her head on his chest, closing her eyes and breathing in his scent. "I love you."

"I love you too, Arrah." Cage says, wrapping his strong arms around her. The two soon drifted off to sleep. They lay there together sleeping, until, in the early hours of the morning, Arrah felt a tapping on her shoulder. She wakes up a bit and finds a crying Leslie standing by the bed.

"Oh Leslie, what's the matter? Did you have a nightmare?"

"I'm wet." He says with tears streaming down his face.

"Oh Les, you could've woken me up sooner and I would've taken you to the outhouse."

"I'm sorry." Leslie said, sniffing, and wiping his nose with his hand.

"It's all right." She says, touching his shoulder. "Is your mat wet?"

"No...but the floor is...and my nightshirt."

Arrah covered her mouth to try to keep from laughing. She thought how Leslie said that was quite comical. "C'mon, lets get everything cleaned up. Show me where you,...well, you know..." She put on an extra robe of her husbands' and followed Leslie, cleaned it up, and got him dressed into another nightshirt.

"Is everything all right in here?" whispers Laura, standing in the doorway, holding a small hand-lantern.

"Yes Laura...I'm so sorry, but Leslie had a little accident...I've cleaned it up though." said Arrah, feeling quite embarrassed.

"It's all right,... these things happen...I know Rose always had such a time with wetting the bed!...All children do."

Leslie gets back into bed and Arrah's tucks him a little tighter under the covers. She plants a kiss on his forehead, and her hand brushes over his dark blond hair. "Sleep well, my little one."

"Goodnight Arrah." Leslie said before going to sleep.

"Well, now that both of us are up, why don't we go into the kitchen and have a nice cup of hot tea?" Laura asked, laying her hand on Arrah's shoulder.

"That sounds great!" Arrah says, smiling. "I know when I get up in the middle of the night, I never can get back to sleep!"

"You know what, Arrah? I'm the exact same way!" Laura said.

Both women laughed and headed into the kitchen. The two women talked for hours. They found out they had a lot in common. It was kind of funny because both of their husbands had blond hair, and they both had reddish-brown hair. Laura's was more brown than red, and Arrah's, well, hers was quite hard to describe. Hers was very red, but she had a lot of brown in it too. I guess to say the two colors really blended together into this auburn-looking color. At any rate it was very beautiful.

The two women somehow got on to the subject of schoolteaching.

"I was a teacher years ago...I started when I was just sixteen years old." Laura said taking a sip of her tea.

Arrah chuckled. "I wonder if sixteen is a magic number,...because that's when I got my first teaching job." Arrah smiled and thought back to her wonderful teaching days. "Oh I just adored teaching...I wish I could go back to it,...but you know how it is, I'm a married woman now, so I can't, I have other responsibilites...Plus, I don't think Cage would like it so much if I was working." She laughed slightly at her last comment.

Laura shook her head. "Isn't it a shame though?...I mean you work so hard for your teaching certificate and then you turn around and you have to give it up."

"Laura, I don't think it's all in vain," said Arrah while laying her hand on top of Laura's for a second. "I mean, we both married wonderful men, and we love them and they love us, that's all that really matters isn't it?"

Laura smiles. "You're right, Arrah."


	5. Chapter 5

Laura asks Arrah if she wants a little something to go with their tea.

"Actually Laura, I've got some cookies out in the wagon,...they're best eaten when they're hot though."

"Well let's make some then! I'm sure I've got the ingredients!"

"This early in the morning?" Arrah asks, laughing.

"Sure it'll be fun!"

"Well, lets see...I need some butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, hickory nuts (or you can also use pecans), and powdered sugar. That's really important!"

"Why?" Laura asks.

"It makes them taste a whole lot better!" She says, laughing.

"Well I have all of those things...You'll need a mixing spoon, a baking sheet, and what size of a bowl?"

"Medium sized, I'd say...Well c'mon, lets get to baking Laura!" She smiles.

Arrah chopped up the hickory nuts and mixed it with the butter, sugar, and the vanilla. She blended flour in with the mixture. Laura helped her roll the dough into little balls and they baked them for 25 minutes. When they were half-done, Arrah took them out of the oven and turned them over, and put them back and let them bake the rest of the way. When they we finally done and still a bit hot, they rolled each litle ball in the powdered sugar.

"What do you call these?" Laura said. tasting one. "They're really good!"

"They are called snowball cookies...The boys just love them! I usually make them around Christmastime, but I think they're yummy enough to be eaten year-round!"

"I'll say!" said Laura.

All of the children are awakened by the wonderful aroma of the snowball cookies, so they follow their noses and come downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey Laura, I'm surprised our husbands aren't up!"

"I know!...You think they would be!" Both women laugh.

Leslie came up to them and asked for a cookie, and Arrah gave each of the children a snowball cookie. The boys all asked for more when they were finished.

"See, I told you they loved them!" Arrah said, laughing.

"I think you might have to give me the recipe, Jenny and Rose love them too!" Laura smiles at the girls, enjoying their cookies.

"Sure I'll give you the recipe!...It's an old German recipe and it has been in my family for generations." Arrah said, writing the recipe down on a sheet of paper for Laura. "Make sure to turn them over when they're half-baked, that's really important,...and be sure never to burn the bottoms."

"Thank you, Arrah." Laura said, looking over the recipe.

"Now that you're done with your cookies boys, how about you head back up to bed." Arrah told her brother-in-laws.

"You girls, too." Laura said to her daughter and niece, giving them a look.

"But we're not tired, Mama!" Rose said.

"Well then, you and Jenny can get a head-start on your chores!"

"And I'll make you boys help them..." Arrah said to the boys, who were still standing there.

"Um...I think we'll go to bed now..." Graham said. And all three boys ran upstairs. Laura took one look at Rose and Jenny.

"Us too." Rose said and took Jenny's hand and followed the boys upstairs, running just as fast as they did.

Arrah and Laura looked at each other and busted out laughing. "Works every time." They both said, and each gave the other a high-five.

"So does Mansfield have a school?" Arrah asked Laura as she helped her prepare breakfast that morning. It was about 4:00 in the morning and the menfolk weren't up yet. Jenny and Rose had went out to the barn to do their chores...Laura was just about to answer Arrah's question when Arrah caught her two-year-old brother-in-law running in the parlor.

"Leslie, come here please."

"Yes Arrah?"

"Leslie, I don't want you ever to run in someone's home, do you hear me?"..."If you don't run in ours you mustn't ever run in someone else's! Do you understand me?"

"But Arrah! We don't have a home yet...So how would you know I'd run in it!" Leslie asked, looking at her.

Arrah gave him a look. "You know what I mean, Leslie."..."Drew, would you take your brothers outside please? You can help Jenny and Rose with their chores...It will keep Graham and Leslie out of mischeif."

"Yes Arrah." Drew said.

"But why does he haveta take me outside?...I did'nt do anything...I was just standin' here!" said Graham, not wanting it to seem like he was in any trouble.

"Graham...just go outside with their brothers." Arrah told him, giving him a stern look.

The boys obeyed and did exactly as they were told.

"Believe me, Laura. You must keep a close eye on the two youngest boys. They're usually good boys, but,...they have their days..." She said, chuckling. "...Ma Lay told me a story once about one day when Graham got into so much trouble!...He was about five years old and he was outside, playing in the yard, and his grandfather Fredrick, was working in the yard with a rake. There were some snowball bushes growing in the yard, white ones, and Graham was running around in a very devilish mood, and he snatched some, ran over and wove the plant under his grandfathers' nose... Fredrick looked at Graham with a look a disbelief, and he shook his rake at Graham and spoke in German to him, "Du aielentler Luder Du." It's a pretty rough translation, but in English, he said, " You most undesirable person you."...When his Pa found out about what Graham did to his grandfather, he took him behind the woodshed and tanned his hide!"

"Reminds me of something Willie Oleson would do!...He and his sister Nellie were some former classmates of mine in Walnut Grove...Willie was always being sent to the corner for the things he would do or say...Especially by me when I started teaching the school. Nellie was my arch enemy, there were too many things to name of what she's pulled over on me!" Laura laughed, remembering a few of them..."There was this one time Nellie made me flunk my tearcher's exam by telling me there was no history when there actually was...oh, I could've killed her! It was her plan to try and get back at me for messing up her and Almanzo's dinner date that her mother had set up. Mrs. Oleson didn't know how to make cinnamon chicken, his favorite meal, so I offered to make it instead. But I used cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon...Their mouths were on fire for week!...And I still think Manly hates it when I make my cinnamon chicken!...Oh, he'll eat it...but I still think he remembers that day!" Laura laughs.

"Nellie was really bad then, huh!" Arrah laughs.

"Yes she was...but she met a man named Percival Dalton, and he straighted her out good! They're married now and have a set of twins, a boy and a girl. Their names are Benjamin and Jennifer."

"I think almost everyone has a 'Nellie Oleson' in their life...I'm thinking about mine right now." Arrah laughs. "She was one of the teachers in the East Stone Hill School. I never went there, but I would see Miss Prim, that's what I called her because she was so prim and proper and really bossy, coming down the road I took the cows down every day. Miss Prim didn't like it if the cows (or the dog I took with me) got to close to her liking, so she would scold me if they did. Every day coming down that road, I would almost always kill a snake with my buggy whip. One day, I decided to have a little 'fun' with Miss Prim. I killed a bull snake, and layed it all coiled up in the road. She came down the road, her nose stuck in the book she was reading. When she saw the snake, she thought it was alive. So she screamed, threw her book high in the air, and tore off thru a barbed wire fence, tearing her dress!"

"Oh my goodness!" Laura laughed.

"I know!...I never meant to scare her that bad, I was so sorry!...I picked up her book and later gave it to one of the schoolboys, who was happy enough to give it back to his teacher."

"I like listening to your stories, Arrah."

"Thanks!...I like yours too!" Arrah said.


	6. Chapter 6

That morning after breakfast, Cage and Arrah and the boys set out again, but before leaving, they wanted to say goodbye to the Wilder's and thank them for the friendship and hospitality they showed them.

"I still wish you all could stay." Laura said, hugging Arrah. Both women thought they were going to cry, because they developed a new friendship and didn't want it to end.

"I do too, Laura...But I don't make those decisions,...Cage does."

"...Here, I baked some bread for your trip..." Laura said, handing it over to her.

"Laura...thank you...you didn't need too...We have enough provisions in the wagon."

"I wanted to, Arrah. Keep it,...everything."

Arrah fingered the red-and-white checked cloth Laura used as a cover to keep the bread warm.

"Thank you, Laura Ingalls Wilder...and you know if we never meet again in this world...we'll see each other again in Heaven." Arrah said, hugging her.

Laura smiles.

"Goodbye Drew." Jenny says, hugging him. Both felt something special before they released their hug, but they couldn't quite place what it was. "I'll miss you Jenny." He says, smiling at her.

"Do you want a hug or a handshake, Graham?" Rose asked. 9 year old Graham panicked a little, he never hugged a girl before!

"Uh...handshake." He said, and he and Rose shook hands. Cage shook Almanzo and Laura's hands and said their goodbyes. Arrah lifted Leslie into the back of the wagon. Drew and Graham jumped in the back, too. Cage helped his wife onto the wagon seat, and sat beside her, took the reins, and drove off. "Goodbye, Wilders." Arrah said, waving. They waved back. As the Lay's wagon drove off into the distance, Jenny waved and saw Drew waving back at her. It seemed like they both looked straight into the other's eyes, even though there was a great distance between them.

"Do you like Drew, Jenny?" Rose asked her cousin.

"I think so." She said, still staring in the direction that the wagon took. "_I'll never know for sure,...because I'll never see him again._" She thought.

"C'mon girls, you have the rest of your chores to do." Almanzo said.

"Yes sir." said Jenny, still looking in the same direction. Laura went inside and she, Rose and Almanzo went back to the barn.


	7. Chapter 7

The Lay's had been traveling a while, still in Missouri, and still not knowing exactly where they were headed, but God knew.

"Sweetheart, can we stop a while?...We can have lunch, and start back up again." Arrah asked her husband. "There's a perfect spot!..." She pointed into the distance. "There's a creek over there, we can go swimming. The boys'll love that."

"All right...You boys want to go swimming?" Cage asks, looking back at them.

"Yeah!" They shouted. Well,...Graham and Leslie did, Drew just smiled really big, but even he wanted to go swimming.

Cage stopped the wagon as soon as they got to the creek. The boys jumped out the wagon, dressed down to their underclothes, and jumped right in. Since there was no one else around, Arrah changed into an old skirt and blouse and went swimming with them.

"Cage, come on in and join us!" Leslie said to his much older brother. Yes, even the two-year-old could swim, but then again,...he was in the more shallow part of the creek.

"No thanks, buddy...I'm fine." Cage said, sitting on the bank.

"Oh honey, don't be such a stick in the mud!...Even I'm swimming with the boys!...I'll drag you in with your clothes on if I have to!" Arrah laughed.

"Better try and catch me first!" Cage said, laughing.

"Ok boys,...let's get him!..." She says and they start chasing Cage all over the wide, open land. Finally, they catch him and tackle him to the ground, with Arrah, wet clothes and all, on top of him.

"Ok...ok I get it,...I get it!" He laughs, hands up in the air in mock surrender.

"Ready to go swimming now, honey!" She laughs, and kisses him.

"Sure." Cage smiled and he and his young wife walk down to the creek, holding hands. The boys started swimming again, splashing each other a couple of times. Cage grabbed Arrah around her middle and kissed her neck. "Hey sweetheart, I have something for you."

"What's that?" She smiles at him.

"Payback!" He laughs and dunks her underwater.

"You little devil!" She shrieked at him when she came back up out of the water, then Arrah tackles him and they both get plunged underwater together. When they both come back up, Cage plants a kiss on her lips and her hands wrap around the back of his neck. "You know I can never stay mad at you!" She laughs, kissing him. "I love you, Cage."

"I love you too, sweetheart." Cage says.

"I'm gonna go get changed now and get lunch ready." She says, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"What are we having?"

"You'll see." She smiles.

"Something new, I'm guessing?"

"Yep,...something my Grandpa always made. Don't worry, you'll love it!" She says and walked back to wagon, changed into her dark brown skirt and light brown blouse, rolled up her sleeves to her elbows and put on her cream-colored apron, and she got in the back of the wagon to get some things for lunch. She grabbed some butter, cheese, some corned beef, a whole bunch of rye biscuits, and some utensils, and got out of the wagon.

"Boys!...C'mon were going to have lunch now!" She hollered and the boys came running.

"Do we haveta get changed or can we stay in these clothes, Arrah?" Graham asks, trying to get the water out of his ears.

"You can stay in those clothes." She chuckled. "I have to make your sandwiches anyway."

"Why?" asks Leslie.

"Because, there is a certain, special way you have to make them." She smiled and raised her eyebrows.

"How?...Show us please!" Graham said.

"Well first you take half of a rye biscuit, slather some butter on there, lay it on heavy. Then, you take your chesse, and lay that on really thick. Next, comes your corned beef, you'll want a real generous portion of that. Finally, take your other half of the rye biscuit and slather some more butter on there, just like you did your first one...And there you have the best sandwich ever!...Who wants to try one?"

Well, they all did. So she made each of them a sandwich. The boys took to them instantly! Cage even liked his. The boys went swimming again, and Cage, now dressed in dry clothes, sat on the bank with his wife.

"How did you like your sandwich, sweetheart?"

"It was wonderful...Almost as wonderful as you." He said, his arms around her and he kissed her neck.

Arrah laughed."Thanks Cage, you're comparing your wife to food!"

"Well, I said you're more wonderful." Cage said, smiling.

"How much more wonderful?" She asked, laying in his arms, and looking up at him.

"Too much to keep track of." He smiles. "I love you Arrah...I always will."

"I love you, Cage."

Arrah stays there wrapped in his strong arms.

"Promise me something, Cage." She says, closing her eyes.

"What?" He said.

"That we'll always go wherever God leads us."

"I promise." Cage smiles, and gave his wife a kiss on the lips.

After a while, Cage thought that they should pack up their things and head out again, so the boys got dressed into dry clothes. Everyone got into the wagon, and they set off again.

"All right Graham...What's 4 times 3?" Drew was helping Graham with his schoolwork. It wasn't going too well.

"Um...11!"

"No Graham...It's not 11." Drew told him.

"I've had enough of this!" He says, throwing his slate and slate pencil down on the wagon bed.

"Well don't get angry with me!...You're the one who got the answer wrong!"

"Drew, can't we work on history?...Or play that game where we make up a sentence?...That's way more fun!" Graham said.

"Ok, we'll play the sentence game, but afterward, its back to arithmetic."

"Fine." said Graham, but he wasn't sounding too happy about it.

"Ok Graham, you start it off." Drew said, handing him the slate and slate pencil.

'The purple cow'...Graham wrote on the slate.

Drew looked at what he wrote and laughed. "Graham, there's no such thing as a purple cow!"

"I know that!...I want to make it funny!" He laughs. "Let Leslie do one!"

"Ok Les, tell me what you want your part of the sentence to say." Leslie whispers into Drew's ear. Drew laughed and wrote it down on the slate. He said what they had so far. "The purple cow danced like a silly chicken..." All three boys burst out laughing.

"In a pink pinafore!" Graham added, laughing so hard, tears were coming to his hazel-colored eyes.

"How do you know what a pinnafore is?" Drew asked, laughing.

"Rose told me!" He laughed.

"The purple cow danced like a silly chicken in a pink pinnafore!" The boys yelled and laughed so hard their sides ached.

Arrah looked back at them like they were really strange, but then she laughed. "You silly, silly boys." She muttered.

Suddenly, Cage brought the wagon to a halt, and started to turn around.

"What's wrong? Did we forget something at the creek, Cage?" Graham asked.

"We're going back to Mansfield."

"What!" Arrah asked. You could hear the joy in her voice.

"You heard what I said!" Cage said, smiling at her. "We're going back...I have a feeling God wants us there." He said. He gently held his wife by her arms. "God wants us there Arrah...I just promised you we'd go wherever God led us...I think He's leading us there."

"Oh Cage!...I...I love you!" She says, hugging his neck, almost crying.

"C'mon, lets go...Yaaa!" Cage snaps the reins and yells a command at the two horses, David and Johnathan, and they obeyed went the direction they came from.

"Yay!" Graham and Leslie yell.

"Aren't you happy, Drew?" Leslie asked his brother.

"Of course I am, Les...I'm very happy...I''ll get to see Jenny again."

"I think he likes her." Graham said.

"So what if I do!" Drew asked, smiling. "She's a nice girl." On the way back to Mansfield, Drew kept finding himself day-dreaming about Jenny Wilder.


	8. Chapter 8

Laura and Jenny were hanging the family's laundry out the clothesline outside, talking to each other when Laura felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Need some more help with those clothes?" A female's voice said. Laura turned around.

"MARY!..." She hugged her sister. "You're looking wondreful!...Oh, you too Adam." She hugged her brother-in-law, too. Mary had changed quite a bit since Laura last saw her sister, she no longer left her blond hair down, it was up in a bun, much like the women of her time.

She playfully slapped Adam, though, according to him, maybe a little too hard! "Why didn't you two write us a tell us you were coming!"

"We did...I guess it never came." Mary said.

"Well, this pretty young lady must be Jenny, correct?" Adam asked.

"Yes Mr. Kendall." Jenny blushes. "Its been a while since we all last saw each other hasn't it?"

"Yes, no more two braids, just one, eh?" He says, tugging on her long, brown braid down her back.

"Just wait till you see Rose! She's grown up too since you last saw her. She turns nine in four months." Laura said. "C'mon inside...I sure you're tired from your trip."

"All right." Mary said. Adam guided her, and they followed Laura and Jenny inside.

"Aunt Mary!" Rose shouted, and ran to hug her.

"Oh Rose, you've grown so beautiful!" Mary said, running her fingers over her niece's face. It was Mary's way of 'seeing' people.

"Thank you, Aunt Mary...But you're much more beautiful." She left her aunt's embrace to hug her uncle. "Hi, Uncle Adam."

"Mary's right, you have grown so beautiful since I last saw you, kiddo...I think you're almost the spittin' image of you're Ma...but I can see a bit of your Pa in you too...Your Ma tells me you're turning nine in a few months?" Adam said.

"Yes sir. Can't wait either! Then I'm just one year away from being in double digits!"

"So how has living in New York been for you?" Almanzo asked. Everyone was in the sitting room.

"Busy." Mary replied, laughing. "I'm getting tired of all the noise."

"I'd actually like to go back there someday...I was born in Malone, ya know." Almanzo said.

"How are Nellie, Percival and the kids?" Laura asked.

"Sorry to tell you this, Laura, but Percival passed on a few years ago. Died in his sleep, I believe." Adam said.

"Oh, that's too bad." Laura said, in sympathy.

"But Nellie and the twins are doing just fine." Mary said.

"Well that's good." Laura said. They heard a knock on the front door. "I'll get it."

"Hello again, new friend!" Arrah let out a girlish squeal and hugged Laura.

"Oh my goodness!...Arrah!" Laura says. "I thought we'd never see each other again, what are you doing here?"

"Cage said we're staying!...He says God wants us here...Isn't this wonderful?" Arrah hugs Laura again.

"YES!...Cage and the boys are here with you, aren't they?"

"Yes they're out in the wagon."

"Go get them and come inside for a while!" Laura said.

"All right!" She says, and walks off the wagon. She returns with Cage and the boys.

"Oh Laura...you have company, we'll come back later." Arrah said when she saw the two people in the sitting room.

"Nonsense!...c'mon...stay awhile." Laura said.

"Be on your best behavior boys." Arrah said, holding Leslie.

"Yes Arrah." Graham and Drew said.

"Laura, are you going to introduce your friends to Adam and me?" Mary asked, hearing the unfamiliar voices. Mary had a smile on her face.

"Yes, these are our new friends, Cage Lay and his wife Arrah, and Cage's three younger brothers, Drew, who's 16, Graham, who's 9, and Leslie, who's 2. They've adopted them since their parents passed on a few years ago."

"Pleasure to meet you all." Mary said.

"Likewise." Cage said. He shook Adam's hand.

"So how did you meet Laura and Almanzo?" Mary asked.

"Well, we were travelling from Iowa to find a homestead, and our wagon wheel happened to break in front of their house, Almanzo fixed it for us, and they wanted us to stay the night last night." Arrah began.

"Did you find a place to homestead?"

"Well, not exactly...we'd like to live in Mansfield...but we're not sure where right now." Cage said.

Laura looked over at Almanzo who's eyes were lit up.

"Manly, what is it?"

"The old widow Brogan's place, no one's lived there in years, it'll need some fixing up of course, and I'll do what I can to help you."

"Thank you Almanzo." Cage said. "That would be wonderful."

"Laura said that you and your husband have adopted his younger brothers? That sounds quite interesting to me." Mary said, and when Arrah began to speak, she turned her head to the direction of her voice.

"Yes...When my mother-in-law and father-in-law died, the boys were sent to live with each of the older brothers for a time. And when Cage and I got married we decided to adopt them. To us, there was no sense in letting them keep being tossed around from Mathis, to Josef, to John, and then back to Cage again. It was all too much for the boys." Arrah said, trying to keep a squirmming little boy quiet and still. "Leslie Daniel, stay still please!" She scolded. "Looks like you have a case of the wiggle worm!" She tells him, putting emphasis on the word 'wiggle'."

"Arrah, the children can all go outside and play together for awhile, I think they'd like it." Laura said.

"That does sound like a good idea, Laura, but this little one needs to learn to stay quiet and still for a time...but Graham and Drew can go outside with Jenny and Rose if they'd like..." With that, the four children practically race each other out the door...

"Boys, what did I tell you about running in people's homes?" Arrah calls after them.

"Arrah, let children be children." Laura smiled at her.

"I just hope when Cage and I have one of our own, we'll be able to handle the disipline part of it...You know the bible verse,...'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.'"

"Oh I think you will...If you can handle those boys...you can handle one of your own." Almanzo said.

"You'll have your good days and bad days...but in the end it all works out." Laura says. "Whenever Rose and I get into those bad days...I'll look upward and say...'Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord.'..." She laughs. Everyone else does too.

"Do you and Adam have any children, Mary?" Arrah asked.

"Yes...once...We had a little baby boy, named Adam Jr...but he...and one of our close friends, Alice Garvey,...died in a fire in the blind school that Adam and I taught at." A few tears fell out of her sight-less eyes, and rolled down her cheeks, remembering that day. Adam put his arms around her.

"Oh Mary...I'm so sorry...forget I said anything...I didn't mean to stir up any bad memories." Arrah apoligized.

"It's all right Arrah, you didn't know...The important thing is, we'll see him again in Heaven someday." Mary said, with a smile on her face.

"Better yet Mary, when you get to Heaven, one of the first people you'll see will be Jesus." Arrah said, smiling.

"True." Mary smiled. "Arrah? Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course...What is it?"

"Could you...Could you describe yourself to me? What you look like, I mean."

"I'll do much better than that." She says, walking over to Mary. "Laura told me how you 'see' folks." She smiled, and put Mary's hands on her face.

"Arrah, I didn't want you to be uncomfortable with that,...us just meeting each other." Mary said.

"Nonsense, I'm your sister's friend,...why can't I be yours too?" She smiles. Mary's hands brush over Arrah's face.

"I can tell you're very pretty, Arrah...What color hair do you have?"

"Reddish-brown...Sort of like an auburn color."

"And your eyes?" Mary asks.

"They're brown."

"They always have a twinkle in 'em too." Cage said, smiling.

Mary smiled.

"Would you like to 'see' Leslie?" Arrah asks.

"If he doesn't mind."

Arrah took Leslie and placed him beside Mary. She guided Mary's hands and rested them on Leslie's face.

"Leslie has chocolate-brown eyes and dark blonde hair." Arrah told Mary.

"He's so cute. I can tell that!" Mary smiled. Leslie giggled when Mary's fingers seemed to dance on his nose. Mary laughed as well.

"Cage has the same hair color, but he has green eyes. He has a long, slender nose, sort of thick eyebrows...He's very handsome." Arrah says, smiling at her husband.

"How thick are his eyebrows?" Mary smiles.

"Well, my friends call them caterpillar eyebrows." Cage says, making them 'dance', which makes everyone laugh.

"Graham and Drew look a lot like Cage, but Graham has hazel eyes and Drew's are green." Arrah said.

"Do they have caterpillar eyebrows?" Mary laughed.

"No, they're barely bushy at all!" Arrah laughs.

"So Laura, did you hear about Albert?" Mary asked.

"No, what?"

"He's setting up his practice here in Mansfield!" Mary said, excitedly.

"How do you know that?"

"He wrote us." Adam said.

"Guess who's going to be his nurse." Mary said.

"Who!...Tell us!"

"Carrie!"

"For how long?" Laura asked.

"Till Albert gets a wife." Almanzo joked.

"Manly!" Laura glares at her husband, but then breaks into a smile.

"Have you heard from Ma and Pa lately?" Mary asked her sister.

"Very little. Seems they're doing fine. Grace is 17 and teaching the school now, and she's loving it! Who knew she'd follow in her two big sisters' footsteps!" Laura smiled. "What about James and Cassandra? Have you heard from them?"

"Not much...last we heard was they were living together in the Black Hills." Adam said.

"We're so sorry!...We're leaving you two out of this!" Laura apoligized to Arrah and Cage.

"Laura, its ok...I like hearing about your family." Arrah smiled. "Speaking of family,...once we get settled, I need to write my folks a letter."

"Could you tell us about your family, Arrah?" Mary asked.

"Sure." Arrah told them about her father Harrison, who is a farmer and also a very accomplished goldsmith, and her mother Josephine, who, according to Arrah, is the best mother a daughter could ask for, and is a very caring woman which is the kind of woman Arrah hopes to be. She told them about her two older brothers who are married, Micah, to a young lady named Claire, who have a baby son named Owen, and Amos who is married to a lady named Stella, and are expecting their first child. Arrah told them about her brother Bennet, who is two years older than she, and is courting a young girl named Lydia. She finally told them about her youngers sisters Callah and Pearl, who are young schoolgirls of the ages of twelve and ten.


	9. Chapter 9

Days later, they all went over to the old widow Brogan's place to help fix it up. The ninety-year-old, little, short, Irish woman named Elsie was widowed at the young age of thirty-two and lived the rest of her life without her husband, Lee Brogan. She was a sweet, old, grandmotherly-type lady, who always had little treats for the neighborhood children. Her two middle-aged adult sons, Caleb and Johnny wanted her to come down to Arkansas, where they were living then, but she had insisted on living in the little house with her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter Ella until her death, which happened over five years ago...Months after her grandmother died, Ella returned to Arkansas to live with her father and uncle Johnny... Almanzo, Cage, and Adam were going to do some much needed repairs on the house and barn. They also were going to move all of the Lay's belongings into the house when the time came...with the help of Drew and Graham...when they weren't playing. :)

"Arrah!" Rose ran up to hug her as soon as she saw her.

"Hey sweetie!" Arrah said while in Rose's embrace.

"Rose, call her either Mrs. Lay or Miss Arrah." Laura said, scolding her a bit.

"Yes Ma'am." Rose said to her mother. She looked up at Arrah. "Can I call you Miss Arrah? I like the sound of that better!"

"Sure." Arrah said, and smiled at Rose.

"Do you have more of those yummy snowball cookies?"

"No...but I was just about to make some...Wanna come help me?"

Sure!...Can I Mama?" Rose asks.

"Yes you may...but be good."

"Yes Mama!" Rose said. She followed Arrah to the wagon where she had her dutch oven and other things set up.

"So what are we having?...Besides snowball cookies I mean." Rose asked.

"We are having some good, hickory-smoked fish!...but, before I start on that, lets get started on those cookies!" She smiled. Arrah grabbed butter, sugar, flour, hickory nuts, vanilla, and powdered sugar from the wagon. She put everything except the powdered sugar in a bowl and let Rose help with the stirring.

"Yeah! Round and round and round!...That'a girl!...You're doing great Rose!" Arrah said, and the eight-year-old grinned from ear to ear.

Then, She and Rose rolled the dough into little balls and baked them in the dutch oven. When they were half done, as always, Arrah took them out to turn them over and put them back in to let them bake the rest of the way. When they were finally done, Rose helped Arrah roll each little ball in the powdered sugar. Arrah put each cookie in a basket and covered it with a cloth to keep them warm.

"With you being such a good helper, you can have one right now. You deserve it, Rose." Arrah said, giving her a cookie.

"Thank you!" Rose said, smiling.

"Now, you go run along and play."

"Bye!" Said Rose and ran to catch up with Jenny and the boys.

Arrah took the hickory bark out of the wagon and started a little fire with it to smoke the fish. She blew on it a few times to get the smoke started and layed the fish on the little rack above the hickory smoke. About an hour later, Arrah saw Mary and Laura coming up the road and up to the wagon. She waved to them.

"Arrah, I brought some lemonade and some spiced peaches. Hope that's all right." Mary said.

"Mary, that's perfectly fine! Thank you." Arrah said taking the pitcher and the jar of spiced peaches from her and setting them down on a makeshift table.

"I brought some mashed potatoes and homemade baked beans,...doesn't really go with hickory-smoked fish, but it'll do." Laura smiled.

"It'll have to!" Arrah laughed. "We need enough food for a small army!" All three women laughed. "I was just about to start on some homemade bread...I have a few loaves made already, but I just love the smell of it when they're fresh from the oven!...When my Ma makes it, she almost drowns it in melted butter! But oh, is it so good!"

Rose and Drew come running up to Arrah, in their underclothes soaked to the skin...Both children looked scared. Rose was crying and Drew was almost in tears.

"Drew, what on earth is the matter...?" Arrah asked, holding him by the shoulders.

"It's Leslie...we were swimming and I told him not to jump in the deep part but he did it anyway...and hit the back of his head on a sharp rock...He cracked his head open and he's bleeding...Jenny and Graham are with him..."

Arrah hiked up her skirts and ran to the creek...

"Leslie Daniel Lay!...Are you all right, sweetheart?" She asks, alarmed. She cradled him in her arms.

"I'm bleeding." He said, crying a little. "I hit my head."

"I know that, little one." Arrah said. The blood was soaking through his dark blond hair and turning it a reddish color. Leslie's blood was also seeping through Arrah's light brown blouse..."One of you children try to find a spider's web...The more the better...Quickly please."

They searched everywhere in the woods till they found a few spider's webs..."Found some!" Graham shouted. "Sorry spiders,...we need to use these." Graham said, knocking the spiders out of the way and grabbing the webs...He ran back to Arrah..."Here." He said, giving the spider's webs to her.

"Thanks Graham." She said, and uses it to stop the bleeding. She picks Leslie up and carries him back to the wagon.

"Goodness gracious!...Is he all right?" Laura asked.

"He's fine...I got the bleeding to stop..."

"How bad was it?" Mary asked.

"I've seen worse." Arrah said. "It was a pretty bad cut on his head, though." She layed him on the large matress in the wagon.

"I'm sorry I got your shirt all icky and bloody, Arrah." Leslie said, still crying.

"Les, don't worry about that!...Those kind of things can be mended and fixed...I'm just glad you're ok." She says, tears coming to her eyes, and hugging his neck. "I don't want you doing anything like that again! You could've gotten seriously hurt!...When you're brother tells you to do something you need to listen Leslie!"

"Yes Ma'am...I'm sorry" He says, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"It's all right." She says, her hand caressing the side of his face. "Just be careful next time." She smiled. "Now rest awhile." She says, getting out of the wagon. She sees Cage walking up to her. "Hey honey!" She embraces him and kisses him on the lips. He sees the dried blood on her shirt.

"Great Jerusalem Crickets!...Arrah, what happened? Are you ok?" Cage asks.

"Cage, calm down! I'm fine!...Leslie just got into a little swimming accident...He cracked his head open a bit..."

"He what?" Cage started to say, sounding really worried.

"Now don't worry...Don't worry," She said in a soothing tone of voice. "I got the bleeding to stop with a spider's web, just like my Pa did when I was a little girl...Don't worry, he's fine. He's in the wagon."

"I'll go see him...by the way, Manzo and Adam want to know if the food's ready."

"Oh good Heavens! The smoked fish!"...She runs over to check on it in the fire pit. "Ok good...It's fine..." She takes it off the rack and puts it all on a huge plate on the table. She goes and changes into her dark tan blouse that has little pink roses printed all over it. It went pretty well with her dark brown skirt.

"Hey buddy..." Cage said, climbing into the back of the wagon. "Looks like you gave everyone quite a scare, huh?" He says, taking a seat on the wagon bed.

"Yeah...I cracked my head open, it really hurt and it bled a lot."

"Did you cry?" Cage asked.

"Uh-huh." Leslie shook his head up and down.

"Hey, watch it!...The marbles are rolling around in your head!" Cage says, laughing. Leslie giggles.

"Lets make 'em rattle even more!" He says, taking Leslie's head and playfully shakes it up and down, and that makes Leslie engulf in more hysterical laughter.

"Food's ready!" Arrah calls to everyone.

"Hey, you want me to bring 'the wounded' out a plate?" Cage asks, playfully punching Leslie's arm.

"Sure!" He says, smiling, and Cage got out of the wagon. While everyone is beginning to show up at the table, Cage fixes up a plate for Leslie.

"Here ya go, bud." Cage says, returning with the plate of food.

"Thanks Cage." Leslie smiles, digging his fork into the mashed potatoes.

"Hey now! Don't ya think ya should thank God for that food?"

"Oh yeah." He says and folds his little hands, and says his own little prayer out loud. "Dear God,...Thank you for this really, really good food,...and friends and family,...and for keeping me safe and not killing me when I broke my head open today...In Jesus' Name,...Amen."

Cage laughed. "Silly boy." He said, ruffling his blond hair.


	10. Chapter 10

Three months had passed and the Lay's house was finally finshed. They had the Wilder's over the first night for supper as a thank you for such a help they were to them. It was October, school would be starting up again soon and the boys would be attending with Jenny and Rose. Drew was to turn seventeen on the 13th. Graham wasn't to have his next birthday till April, and Leslie, of course he had already been three years old for about three months exactly. He was playing out in the yard with Graham with his birthday present that Arrah had given him. Inside the little calico bag she made was a dozen of little wooden 'men' that Cage had carved out of good, solid oak wood. Six of them were 'indians' and the other six were 'pioneers'. Cage took great detail in them, he had even carved the little feathers that Indians usually wore in their hair. He even made a chief, and Leslie loved them!

"Ok Les, you can be the Indians and I can be the pioneers..." Graham was saying.

"NO!...I don't want to! It's my indians and my pioneers so I get to choose!" Leslie insisted. He thought for a moment and then grinned a mischievious little boy kind of grin. "Indians are big meanies so you can be them, Graham..." He said, pushing the pile of toy Indians in front of his brother.

"I'm telling Arrah!" Graham yelled and ran inside the house. Moments later, he came out with Arrah. She was wearing her dark brown skirt and her tan blouse with the pink roses on it. Around her thin waist she had on a cream-colored apron.

"Leslie, did you...Did you call your brother a...a big meanie?" Arrah put her hands over her mouth to try and keep from laughing, and flour covered her cheeks for she was starting to bake bread for supper that night.

Leslie shook his little head no as his answer.

"Well Graham said you did, Leslie."

"No I didn't." He said. "I said that Indians were big meanies."

"And you said that I could play the Indians!" Graham raised his voice at his little brother.

"Graham Nathaniel...you hush." Arrah told him, sternly.

"Yes Ma'am." He said quietly.

"Leslie." Arrah said getting down on her knees and putting her hands on his shoulders. "You said that Indians are big meanies, but then you said that Graham could be the Indians...In a way, you called Graham a big meanie. Didn't you." She said looking straight into his big, chocolate brown eyes.

Leslie nodded.

" I think you meant to call Graham a big meanie...Didn't you."

"Yes Ma'am...I'm sorry." Leslie said.

"Don't tell me...tell your your brother." She said, and Leslie obeyed her. He said he was sorry to his brother and gave him a hug.

"It's not nice to call people names...I don't want either of you to." Arrah told them. "You know what comes next if you disobey me..."

Both boys immediately straightened up, they knew what came next if they were naughty and did it a second time...They would get spanked by Cage...and that wasn't any fun...

"Now how about you boys go and get washed up. Supper is going to be ready soon."

"What are we having?" Leslie asked.

"If you boys will help me with some of it...you'll find out."

"Ok...What do you want us to do?" asked Graham.

"Go get the water bucket and fetch me some water, please." Arrah said.

"Yes Ma'am." They said and ran off to get the water bucket. Arrah went back inside and began to gather her ingredients...She grabbed two peeled onions, some wild leeks, ground cardamon, allspice, nutmeg, three bay leaves, a clove of garlic, powdered garlic, salt, and black pepper. Arrah grabbed some deer meat that had been dried. It was the only way they could keep it fresh in their journey from Iowa to Missouri. She knew it wouldn't be like she usually made this, but it was good enough...She was just working with what she had. Graham and Leslie returned with the water bucket. Leslie was all wet.

"What happened?" Arrah asked with her hands on her hips.

"Leslie was playing in the water." Graham said.

"Don't play in the water next time, Leslie...That was very naughty." Arrah picked him up and was about to go upstairs.

"Arrah? What do I do with the water?" Graham asked. It was a bit heavy for the nine-year-old boy to hold.

"Just set it down somwhere Graham." She said, looking over her shoulder. He did as he was told and Arrah went upstairs with Leslie and got him changed into some dry clothes. When she returned, she set Leslie in his own little chair at the table so he would be out of the way.

"What are we gonna cook, Arrah?" Graham asked.

"Gethsemane Beef...Just like Jesus and the Disciples ate at the Last Supper..." Arrah said, putting all the indgredients in a large pot. She let it boil for three hours till all the water boiled off.

"Really!" Leslie asked, wide eyed.

"No not really! Its just the recipe!" Graham said. "But Arrah! We can't call it Gethse- Gethsen- Gethseme" He stumbled over the word.

"Gethsemane." Arrah corrected.

"Yeah that! We can't call it beef, 'cause it's not beef,...it's deer meat!"

"I guess you're right." Arrah laughed.

Cage came through the front door. He saw Arrah working at the stove and came up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Hey sweetheart...Supper almost ready?"

"It will be soon...Don't you worry." Arrah laughed, playfully tapping his chest.

"What are we having?" He asks, placing his hands around her waist.

"Gethsemane Beef." She started to say, but she looked over at Graham and smiled.

"Gethsemane Deer Meat!" Graham said. "Yay!...I finally said Gethsemane!" He laughed.

"Very good Graham." She smiled at him. There was laughter beaming in her brown eyes. Arrah turned to her husband. "Its getting late...Have you seen Drew? I thought he was going around town with you."

"He was...but then he asked if he could go over to the Wilder's place."

"He was over there five times last month." Her lips formed into a smirky type of smile.

"Well I guess tomorrow is Jenny's birthday and he was asked to help put together a surprise party."

"But if Jenny's there too she'd know about the party!" Graham said.

"Drew was asked to be a distraction." Cage smiled and raised his eyebrows. There was a gleam in his eye.

Arrah smiled at her husband and looked at Graham. "Would you go get Drew and tell him supper is almost ready, please?"

"Yes Ma'am." He said, grabbed his coat, since it was autumn and a bit chilly, and headed out the door. He walked the ten or so miles to the Wilder's place. He saw Drew and Jenny in the front yard and ran up to them and saw them...kissing.

"I guess you're doing a good job of distracting her!" Graham said.

They pulled away from each other. Both looked like they were slightly embarassed.

"Arrah says supper's almost ready Drew."

"Ok..." He said to his brother. He looked at Jenny. "See you tomorrow in church." He smiled.

"See you!" She called as the boys were walking down the dirt road.

"Drew?...Why were you kissing Jenny Wilder?" His kid brother asked as they were walking home. The sun was beginning to set into beautiful hues of reds, oranges, and golds.

"It was a Happy Birthday Kiss." He defended himself.

"Her birthday's tomorrow...I just think you like her!" Graham said, smiling up at his older brother.

"I do like her...and I think Jenny likes me too."

"How do you know that?"

"She wouldn't have kissed me back if she didn't like me too!" He smiles and runs up the front steps.

"Older brothers!" Graham said, rolling his eyes and walking in the house after his brother.

"Sorry I'm late!" Drew said. "Was having fun with Jenny at the Wilder's and lost track of the time."

"Yeah...too much fun!" Graham muttered, taking a seat at the suppertable. Drew glared at him.

"Did you wash up for supper?...You know I won't stand dirty hands at the suppertable." Arrah said, beginning to bring the food to the table.

"Wow Arrah! You sound like Ma." Drew smiled and walked out the door to go wash his hands. When he returned, the Lay's sat down to a good meal of the venison, buttered mashed potatoes, and buttered green beans. Cage, Arrah, and Drew had hot tea to drink and the two youngest had milk. The Wilder's were kind enough to buy them a milk cow.

Cage said a prayer for the meal and everyone began eating. The boys began to talk to their brother and sister-in-law about their days. They listened to all three boys, and Cage asked if he could talk to Arrah outside for a moment.

"Certainly." She said. Arrah looked at the boys, who had all stopped eating. They were all staring at her. "Boys,...eat your supper." She said, and followed her husband outside.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner, sweetheart." He said.

"What do you mean?...What's wrong?" Arrah said, placing her hands on his chest.

"I won't be able to work in the fields and plant anything till next spring...Provisions are getting low...So is money..." He said, gazing into her worried-looking brown eyes.

"I'll cut down a meal or two...Cage, you said so yourself that I eat like a bird...I'm not going to let those boys go without food..."

"I can't let you do that sweetheart." He says, rubbing her shoulders.

"I can and I will!" She says, very determined and turns to go back inside. Cage lays his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait!...Almanzo asked me if I'd like a job in town...At the mill he works at."

"Take the job." She said and turned to go inside once again.

"Wait a minute." He said and she turned around. "I love you." He smiles.

She kisses him on the lips. "I love you too." Cage put his arm around her and they both walk inside the house. They sat down at the table again and finished their supper.

"Tomorrow is Jenny's birthday." Drew said, taking his last bite of food. "Wilder's are throwing a party after services tomorrow and asked us to come over."

"Do they want us to bring anything?" Cage asked.

"Just yourselves, they said." Drew replied.

"Well I'll bring a batch of snowball cookies anyway...and I have a present for Jenny as well."

"What is it?" Graham asked.

"Well I knew how much she and Laura like listening to my stories, so I wrote a little booklet for them."

"What stories did you use?" Drew asked.

"Me and Miss Prim...Graham and the snowball bushes...The story how Cage and I met...The story of the blue Forget-Me-Nots...and the Mean Rooster."

"The Mean Rooster?...I don't remember you telling that one!" Graham said.

"Well it involves Me, my Ma, and of course one very mean rooster."

"Could you tell it to us, please?" Leslie asked.

"No...I want to let Jenny read it to all of us at her party." 


	11. Chapter 11

The Lay's were getting ready for church that Sunday Morning. They were quite nervous because the only people they knew were the Wilder's. They planned to sit near them...Arrah had already put her hair up was in her rust-colored dress with the gold buttons...Cage wore a gold-colored shirt and brown pants with matching brown shoes. He also wore brown supenders to hold his pants up. Drew wore a green shirt and brown pants with matching brown suspenders, and Graham and Leslie were matching in light blue shirts with gray pants and matching gray suspenders.

"Ok...Can I see how you boys look before we go?"

All three boys stood together side by side. Their blond hair was neatly parted on the left side. They looked very nice, neat and clean. Arrah was impressed.

"You look very handsome boys." She smiled.

Cage grabbed the Family Bible and Drew and Graham followed him out to hitch up the team. Arrah smoothed out her auburn hair and put on her dark gray bonnet. She picked Leslie up and balanced him on her hip.

"Are ready to go to church, Mr. Leslie?" She asked the three-year-old.

"Yeeeaaah!" He shouted. Arrah smiled and walked out the door.

Drew and Graham were already in the back of the buckboard. Arrah lifted Leslie up in the back so he could be with his brothers and he climbed in and sat down by Graham. Cage helped his wife into the wagon and got in after her. He snapped the reins and the horses set off down the dirt road towards the church.

"Hey, can we sing a few hymns before we get to church?" Graham asked.

"Graham, we're going to be singing when we get to church!" Drew smiled.

"I know that! I want to sing now! I love music and singing."

"All right. Pick a hymn and we'll sing." Arrah said.

"In the Sweet By and By." Graham said. "I like that one."

And so, in the back of the wagon they sang the first verse and the chorus.

_"There's a land that is fairer than day_

_And by faith we can see it afar_

_For the Father waits over the way_

_To prepare us dwelling place there_

_In the sweet by and by_

_We shall meet on that beautiful shore_

_In the sweet by and by_

_We shall meet on that beautiful shore."_

"Beautiful...boys! Just beautiful!" Arrah clapped her hands.

"Well your voice along with ours made it beautiful, Arrah." Drew said.

"Thank you Drew...But if I recall, last night you were singing when you took your bath...and I thought it sounded very, very nice." Drew had very nice tenor voice, and would sing the harmony, along with Cage's baritone. Arrah and the two youngest boys sang the lead.

"Thanks Arrah." Drew sort of blushed. He was embarassed that Arrah had heard him singing. "Can we sing 'Old Rugged Cross'? That's another great one."

"Certainly." She said.

_"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,_

_the emblem of suffering and shame;_

_and I love that old cross where ther dearest and best_

_for a world of lost sinners was slain._

_So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,_

_till my trophies at last I lay down;_

_I will cling to the old rugged cross,_

_and exchange it someday for a crown."_

"Could we sing 'Jesus Loves Me'?" Leslie whispered in Arrah's ear.

"We most certainly can, Leslie." She smiled.

_"Jesus loves me! This I know,_

_For the Bible tells me so._

_Little ones to Him belong;_

_They are weak, but He is strong._

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_The Bible tells me so._

_Jesus loves me! This I know,_

_As he loved so long ago,_

_Taking children on his knee,_

_Saying, "Let them come to me." _

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_Yes, Jesus loves me!_

_The Bible tells me so."_

When they had finished the song they had pulled up to the church. Cage helped Arrah out of the wagon seat so she could help the boys out of the back of the buckboard. Graham and Drew jumped out and Arrah grabbed Leslie. They saw the Wilders coming up the dirt road. They waved hello to them. The Lay's were about to walk up the way to the church when a middle-aged lady with strawberry-blond hair approached them. She went immediately to Arrah and shook her hand.

"Hello! How are all of you this wonderful Sunday morning?...Welcome to the First Baptist Church of Mansfield...It's so good to have you here visiting with us today!...I'm the reverend's wife, Mrs. Ford."

"Good Morning! Yes were very glad to be here...We just moved here from Iowa and most likely will be attending here regularly...I'm Arrah Lay this is my husband Cage..." She said.

"I don't mean to be rude Mrs. Lay, but you look quite young to have three children already...Especially your oldest, why, he looks like he's about fifteen or sixteen!" Mrs. Ford said, motioning to Drew.

"Well, that's because I'm their sister-in-law." She smiled.

"I'm terribly sorry...I just thought you all looked like the happiest little family!"

"That's perfectly all right, Mrs. Ford. We get that a lot...We've actually adopted the boys. This is Drew...Graham...And this little one here, is Leslie." As Arrah introduced the boys, she layed her hand on the two older boys' shoulder. She was holding Leslie.

"Pleased to meet you boys..." She said to each of them. Mrs. Ford turned to Arrah. "May I ask what happened to their parents?"

"Well, their father Silas passed away of a heart attack a few months before Leslie was born...and Charlotte passed on a month before Cage and I got married."

"Oh my." She said. "My sympathies."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ford. But its always so good to know that we'll see our loved ones again in Heaven someday."

"Very true...Well, come inside now, church is going to start soon."

They follow the Reverend's wife inside.

"Mrs. Ford?" Arrah asks.

"Yes deary?"

"May I ask what your name is?" She smiled. "Out of respect, I will call you Mrs. Ford but it is nice to know what one's name is."

"Oh yes!...My name is Ettie...My husband's name is James, but I call him Jimmy...Again Mrs. Lay, its so good to have you all here." She smiled.

The Reverend Ford had dark brown eyes and a full head of coal-black hair that was graying slightly on the sides. He stood in front of the little pulpit and everyone began to find a seat. Cage and Arrah sat on the second to last row and put Graham and Leslie sat on the seat in front of them. Drew couldn't find a place to sit close enough to them.

"Is it ok if I ask Jenny to sit with me?" He asked Arrah.

"If its all right with Mr. Wilder." She smiled and watched as Drew went over and asked him. It must have been all right with him because he let Jenny and Drew sit in the seat in front of the seat that he, Laura and Rose were sharing. Though, Almanzo did have a very close eye on Drew.

"Thank you all for coming this glorious Sunday morning...Do we have any folks visiting with us this morning?"

Almanzo raised his hand and introduced Cage, Arrah and each of the boys.

"Oh! So that's who the good looking young man standing next to Miss Jenny Wilder is...If I didn't know any better I'd think he was your beau." Reverend Ford and the rest of the congregation laughed. Drew and Jenny sort of smiled at each other. "Speaking of Miss Jenny Wilder...today is her birthday...Stand up please, Jenny...you know what we do to people with birthdays..."

Jenny stood up and was already beginning to blush.

"Now...In our best voices!" The Reverend smiled and everyone lifted up their voices in song...

_"Happy Birthday to You,_

_Happy Birthday to You,_

_Happy Birthday God Bless You,_

_Happy Birthday to You!"_

As Jenny sat back down, everyone applauded.

The Reverend Ford continued with announcements, and then they sang a hymn.

_"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, _

_with the cross of Jesus going on before. _

_Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; _

_forward into battle see his banners go! _

_Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, _

_with the cross of Jesus going on before. _

_Like a mighty army moves the church of God; _

_brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod._

_We are not divided, all one body we, _

_one in hope and doctrine, one in charity._

_Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, _

_with the cross of Jesus going on before." _

While singing, Drew and Jenny held the songbook together. He smiled at her when they sang the words, 'in charity'. Jenny blushed a little. They both knew charity is another word for love.

"Now if you are twelve years old and under, Miss Hannah Anderson will take you outside to Sunday School." The Reverend said. With that, about eleven children walked out the front door and Miss Anderson walked over to where Graham and Leslie were sitting. She kneeled down in front of Graham and layed her hands in his lap. "Would you and your brother like to come to Sunday School with me?" She asked, smiling a perfect white smile up at Graham. Miss Hannah was very pretty. She had light brown hair and brown eyes. She was unmarried and about a year or so younger than Arrah...Graham couldn't say anything, so he just nodded. He didn't really know what love was all about, but he thought he just might be in love with Miss Hannah Leonora Anderson. She took both Graham and Leslie by the hand and guided them outside, talking with them all the way to a clearing with trees all around. There were beautifully carved benches arranged in a circle, each bench had the shape of a cross carved through it, and Graham sat down on one of them. Other children sat down around him, filling up the benches. Leslie sat with his own age group and Graham sat with his. Most of the children were talking, some very loudly, but Miss Hannah got them to quiet down some.

"Children...we have two new ones in Sunday School today, so lets introduce each other one at a time so we can get to know each other...Say your name and your age please..."

A girl who was sitting right next to Miss Hannah started it off.

"Hi, my name is Lucy Abbing and I'm twelve years old." She sat back down.

A boy who was standing next to Lucy stood up. "I'm Clay Abbing and I'm ten. I'm also Lucy's younger brother."

A girl, this time stood up. "I'm Missouri Bauer, but I like being called Missy and I'm also ten years old.

A boy with firey red hair stood up next. "I'm Charlie Roux and I'm nine."

A girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes stood up. "I'm Sarah Ann Jones and I'm nine years old."

It was Graham's turn next. He stood up and tried to say his name and his age, but all he was doing was stuttering...and staring all lovestruck at Miss Hannah. "Its all right Graham,...I understand you're nervous..." Miss Hannah said, her soft hands on his shoulders. "Everyone, this is Graham Lay and he's nine years old. He and his family moved here from Iowa. Be sure to make him welcome."

"Where from Iowa?" One of the older children asked Graham.

"Dubuque." He replied quietly.

"Do you know that about Julien Dubuque guy?... I think your ancestors would've known him...Did you know he named that city? He's the founder of it. He was the first European to settle in Iowa Territory...He's dead now, though. Since its the year 1894,...he's been dead for about 84 years now. He died March 24, 1810." The boy named Clay told him. Apparently, Clay loved history...Graham just sat there. He didn't know what to think about Clay's rambling on.

A pretty girl with brown hair was sitting next to Graham. She looked a lot like Miss Hannah. It was her turn to introduce herself so she stood up. "I'm Hope Anderson and I'm eight years old.

_"She must Miss Hannah's sister."_ Graham thought.

Rose Wilder was sitting next to Hope Anderson and she stood up and introduced herself to the class, even though Graham and Leslie knew her already.

A boy with brown hair stood up. "My name is Hiram Anderson and I'm seven years old."

_'That must be her brother...Boy!...Hannah, Hope, and Hiram! The Anderson's must really like H names." _Graham thought to himself.

A girl stood up. "My name is Stella Christiansen and I'm seven."

A boy this time stood. He had red hair like the boy named Charlie. "My name is Jack Roux and I'm six."

A girl with blond hair stood up. "My name is Lilly Christiansen and I'm four."

Miss Hannah stood up by Leslie and put her hands on his shoulders, just like she did Graham. "Are you scared Leslie?" She asked him. Leslie nodded. "Its all right." She smiled and rubbed his back.

"Children, this is Graham's younger brother Leslie. He's the youngest one in our class. He just turned three."

"Well, now that we all know each other some...Let's begin our lesson."

Miss Hannah sat on her knees in the middle of the circle and began the Sunday School lesson. It turns out Miss Hannah liked to draw and she drew Bible Characters on pieces of stiff paper, colored them and would cut them out. She pasted a long stick on the back of each of them. She held them by the little sticks and would act out the lesson. It was a way she could keep the children's attention and keep them interested in the story. Today's lesson was about Jonah and the Whale. Graham listened very intently and he loved the story that was being told. Miss Hannah had even made it look like the paper Jonah was swallowed by the paper Whale, just as the real Jonah had been swallowed by a giant whale. After the lesson was finished, some parents began to pick up their children. As soon as Leslie saw Arrah, he immediately got up and ran to her. Arrah picked him up.

"How were the boys, Miss Anderson? Did they behave well?" Arrah asked.

"Yes they were wonderful. Leslie was a little scared at the beginning, but the boys fit right in! They were the best in the class if you want my opinion. Graham listened very well to the Sunday School lesson."

"Oh really. I'm glad to hear that!" Arrah smiled. "What did Miss Anderson teach on?" She asked the boys.

"God and Jesus!" Leslie said.

"You always say that the Sunday School teacher teaches on God and Jesus, Les!" Graham said. "...Miss Anderson taught about Jonah and the Whale. She even made the paper Jonah get swallowed by the paper Whale!" He exclaimed.

"Paper Jonah's, paper Whales?" Arrah laughed. "I think I'm missing something here."

Miss Hannah held up the paper Jonah and the Whale. "It's how I teach my lesson...It really works too. Keeps their attention on the story pretty well." She smiled at Graham who was gazing up at her. "Hey Graham, who's amazing?"

"You are." He says and smiles at her.

"No, you are." She says. "Can I have a high five?" She extends out her hand and he gives her a high five. "Do you know why you're amazing?" She said, her hands on he knees.

"Why?" Graham smiles.

"Because God is amazing so he makes YOU amazing!" She playfully pokes his shoulder.

"I still think you're amazing." Graham says, gazing up at her.

Hannah Anderson had to laugh a little. "You're so cute Graham!" She says, ruffling his blond hair.

"Well, come on boys, we are going to head over to the Wilder's place...I hear you and your family are invited to Jenny's party this afternoon, Hannah."

"Yes we're planning on going...We'll see you there, Mrs. Lay." Hannah smiles. She sees that Graham is still looking at her. "Bye Graham." She smiled and waved at him before walking over and joining her family. Arrah walked Graham and Leslie to the buckboard where Cage was already waiting.

"Where's Drew?" Leslie asked.

"He is going to have Jenny and Rose show him around town." Arrah said, helping the boys into the buckboard.

"To distract Jenny so she won't know about the surprise party." Graham whispered.

"Yes and we need to get over to the Wilder's as soon as we can. We're going to help them set everything up...Jenny just thinks we are coming over for lunch this afternoon." Cage said as they set off.

Rose and Jenny showed Drew around town that afternoon. One of their stops was to the mercantile to see the Oleson's. (Calm down I know what you're thinking..._Aww man! It's Mrs. Oleson, lets get outta here!..._Nope, its not Nels and Harriet Oleson. Don't worry its Willie and Rachel.) Willie and Rachel tried to live in New York City where Nellie and her kids were living, but they just couldn't, they just weren't used to the big city. They loved living in a small country town. So when Mary and Adam were planning to visit Laura, Almanzo and Rose, Willie and Rachel decided to move to Mansfield. They had been there for a few months already and had set up their own mercantile business. In the future, Willie plans on managing his own restaurant business, just as he had in Walnut Grove.

"Hello Mr. Oleson! How have you been lately?" Rose asked.

"Doing very well. How 'bout you?" Willie smiled.

"Wonderful." Rose replied. She eyed Jenny and Drew walking off to look at something in the store. Rose leaned over the counter and whispered. "You know that you and Mrs. Oleson are invited to Jenny's surprise party, right?"

Willie leaned over the counter and whispered just like his father would. "Rachel and I will be sure to make it." He smiled.

"Have you heard from your Pa, Mr. Oleson?" Rose asked.

"Yes. He's doing well. He and Mother are living in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota."

"I hate to ask it...but how's your sister Nancy doing?"

"Haven't heard from her...And I'm glad." Willie laughed. "All I know is that she's nineteen and living in California somewhere."

Jenny and Drew came up to the counter. "Well it was nice to meet you, Mr. Oleson. I think we need to be going. Jenny and Rose just wanted to show me around town a bit."

"Well aren't you blessed to have such kind escorts?"

"Pretty ones, too." Drew smiled. Jenny blushed and Rose couldn't stop staring at Drew. She knew she had a crush on him when she first saw him, but she kept her feelings hidden.

Jenny looked over at the counter at a very strange looking contraption. "What is that Mr. Oleson?"

"Its a soda fountain, Jenny...Rachel and I thought it would bring in some business..."

"What do you do with it?" asked Rose.

"You drink it...It's a sweet treat." Rachel said, who was stacking some shelves.

"How much are they?" Drew asked.

"We're selling 'em for a penny each...but since you are the first customers who are interested...I'll let each of you have one for free."

"Thank you Mr. Oleson!" They said.

"You're welcome, kids." He smiled and got out three large glasses. "The flavors we have right now are sarsparilla, cherry, grape, orange, birch bark, and peppermint."

"I'll have a peppermint please, Mr. Oleson." Drew said.

"Grape, please." Jenny said, smiling.

"And I'd like to try the Sarsparilla, please." Rose said.

Willie fixed up their drinks and set them on the counter before them. "Here you all are!"

"Thank you!" Each of them said.

"And you can keep those glasses, kids!" Willie called after them as they walked back to the Wilder's place.

"You know Jenny, I meant what I said about having a pretty escort." Drew said, standing in the Wilder's front yard. He was finishing the last of his soda water. Jenny smiled, looking into his green eyes.

"Do you think that I'm pretty, Drew?" Rose asked. She hoped he would. Maybe he would like her too, just as she likes him.

"Yeah, you're a cute kid, Rose." He said, patting her head.


	12. Chapter 12

Rose Wilder thought her heart would break. Drew Lay, the boy she had a crush on since she first saw him, said that he thought that her cousin Jenny is pretty. When Rose asked if Drew thought she was pretty, all Drew said was that she was 'a cute kid' not 'a pretty young girl'. She ran inside as quickly as she could.

"Ok people, here she comes...On three, yell surprise...One...Two...Three..." Almanzo began.

Rose burst through the door in tears.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled...When they saw it was Rose, there was dead silence...Laura went to her daughter as she noticed she was crying.

"Rose?...What's wrong?" Laura began.

"Drew doesn't like me because I'm not pretty!" The eight-year-old sobs and runs up to her room and locks the door.

"Rose!" Laura calls up to her, standing on the staircase.

Arrah layed her hand on Laura's shoulder. "Is it all right if I go up and talk to her?...I deal with the same thing sometimes..."

"If you think it might help her..." Laura said.

Arrah trugded up the wooden stairs to the room that Rose and Jenny shared and knocked on the door. "Rose?...Rose, can I come in and talk to you, please?" Rose ignores her. _"Well if you don't open the door, then I'm coming in after you." _Arrah thought. She takes a hair pin out of her hair bun and picks the lock with it. She opens the door and sees Rose crying on the bed. Arrah sits down beside her and envelops Rose in a hug.

"Rose, shhh...It's all right..." Arrah tries to comfort her. "It's all right."

"Drew doesn't like me because I'm not pretty!" She wails.

"Don't say that Rose...You're very pretty."

"You're just saying that!...I'm not pretty, my forehead's to long, my hair's an ugly color...I'm ugly!" She says, calming down a little.

"Rose, do you know I deal with the same thing?...Do you know what I don't like about myself?"

"What?" She says, and sniffs.

"I think my eyebrows are to thick...I don't like my stupid, little, ugly, button nose. I think only children should have cute little button noses" Arrah said, smiling and tapping Rose's nose..."And Rose, sometimes I wake up in the morning and I look into the looking-glass and I just don't think I look pretty or feel pretty..."

"But you're beautiful...I wanted to say that to you when I first met you..." Rose said.

"That just shows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder..."

"But how come Drew doesn't like me?"

"Sweet pea,...it's not that he doesn't like you as a friend...he does...It's just, he doesn't like you in the way that you like him..."

"He likes Jenny..."

"Maybe Drew just wants someone more his age."

"But my Ma and Pa are ten years apart, and they love each other."..._"I could make it work, Drew could love me."_ She thought.

"But you're not your parents...are you?"

Rose was silent, so Arrah kept on speaking. "Rose, you're going to find a wonderful man someday who will think you're just beautiful...and you are beautiful, Rose. Your parents think you are, I think you are,... but most importantly God thinks you are...Or He wouldn't have created a Rose Wilder...now would He?" She said, smoothing the young girl's hair.

Rose smiled. Arrah hugged her. "God has a very special plan for your life, Rose. I can sense it...But do you know what His plan for your life right now is?"

"What?" She smiled.

"To be the best Rose Wilder you can be!" Arrah smiled. "And I know you can do that." Arrah and Rose went back downstairs and along with everyone else, celebrated Jenny's birthday.

"Thank you so much, Aunt Laura!" Jenny said, holding up a dress that Laura had made her. "Can I start putting my hair up?" She asked eagerly.

"Let's take things one day at a time." Almanzo said, and kissed the top of Jenny's head.

"All right, Uncle Manzo." Jenny smiled.

Arrah gave Jenny her present and Jenny read a few stories out of the book. She finished reading the story about Graham and the snowball bushes.

"My word, Graham!" Hannah Anderson laughed. "What a little devil you were!"

Graham slid down in his seat. The nine-year-old was embarassed that Miss Hannah now knew what Graham did to his grandfather when he was five.

"Jenny, could you please read the story 'The Mean Rooster'?" Arrah asked. "The boys haven't heard it yet, and I wanted you to read it. It's the last story in the booklet."

"Ok." Jenny said and turned to the last story and began to read. "...Like most everyone these days, Arrah Franziska Krolick grew up living on a farm. Her family raised a few chickens for their eggs and for their meat. They had 3 or 4 chickens and one very mean rooster. He would try to attack anyone he could, by sneaking up on a person, flying up on them and beating on them with his wings. He would also try to dig his long spurs into the person he was attacking...One day, the rooster met his match. Both Arrah and her mother were outside one day. And Josephine, Arrah's Ma, was walking down the dirt road. The rooster was out in the yard and he decided to attack the woman. Arrah screamed, "Ma, the rooster is coming!" When Josephine saw that the rooster was after her, she held out her umbrella, that she always carried with her, in front of her to try to keep the rooster at bay. She poked, hoostered, and jostled the rooster to the point of angering him. The rooster tried to fly over the umbrella, so Josephine opened it to keep him from flying over the umbrella and attacking her. After a while, she closed it and began again to poke and hooster and jostle the rooster, which was very, very, very angry by now. So she closed the umbrella and let him fly over. Then, she very nimbly caught him by the neck and whirled him around and around and around till she almost wrung his neck. She threw the rooster across the road and into an open field. The rooster staggered on back home as dizzy as could be. Josephine chuckled with glee and went her way. That mean rooster never bothered her again. You can just imagine why..."

Everyone in the room started dying laughing. Well, everyone except for Leslie.

"What does 'hooster' mean?" He asked.

"'Hooster' or 'Hoster' is a German word. It means to poke or to give a boost. It can also mean to pester..." Arrah said.

"Arrah, I never really asked you this...Why don't you speak with a German accent?" Laura asked.

"Laura, I was born here in America...My Pa and Ma and my older brother Micah came to America from Bavaria, Germany. Micah was but a year old then. They moved to Iowa and lived on their own homestead. Three years later, My brother Amos was born. A year after that, my parents had a baby girl they named Katie, but sadly, she passed away when she was nine months old. Two years after that, my brother Bennet was born. Two years later, I was born. Micah was eight, Amos was five, and Bennet was two. I remained the baby of the family until I turned seven, when my younger sister Callah was born. Pearl was born when Callah turned two...The only reason I know how to speak the language a bit, is my parents and grandparents taught us children the language."


	13. Chapter 13

"C'mon boys! Lets be gettin' a move on pretty soon!...Or you're going to be late for school!" Arrah hollered out the door to Graham and Drew who were doing their morning chores. She sees them coming up the walk. Drew, carrying a whole mess of firewood, and nine-year-old Graham was carrying the milk pail, for he had just came from milking the cow.

"You know Arrah, the cow's ours now and we still haven't named her!" Graham exclaimed.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, won't we!" Arrah smiled. "Let's see...We're going with a Bible name theme, right?"

"How about Esther? We could call her Essie." Drew suggested, but Graham shook his head.

"I don't think that new girl in school, Esther Dolan, would like having a cow share her name!" He laughed. "How about Ruth? We don't know anbody with that name!"

"Ruth the Cow." Drew said out loud. "Seems nice enough, I guess."

"Ruth was a very determined lady from the Bible, too. She grew up, you know, in the Godless nation of Moab...where all was heathen, and she married one of the men from Bethlehem-judah. Her father-in-law and husband and brother-in-law soon died, and Ruth and Orpah were told by their mother-in-law, Naomi, to go back to Moab. Orpah went back to Moab but Ruth said to Naomi, "..._Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me_." Ruth returned to Bethlehem with Naomi and later met and married a man named Boaz, they had a son named Obed, who became the grandfather to King David."

"So Ruth became an ancestor to Jesus Christ!" Drew said.

"Exactly right!" Arrah smiled. "So there's your Bible lesson for today, boys." She laughed. "Now lets get you boys going and off to school!"

"Yes Ma'am." Drew said and added the firewood to the stacked pile leaning against the house, and Graham took the milk pail into the springhouse after skimming it. Then, Arrah followed the boys inside.

"Oh Graham! Just look at your shirt! You've got milk spilled all down the front of it!" Arrah said looking at the large wet spot on his dark blue plaid shirt. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry Arrah! Ruth kicked over the milk bucket and well, you know what happened now. I tried to save as much milk as I could!" Graham said. "Am I in trouble?" He winced.

Arrah put her hands on his shoulders. "No Graham. You're fine...It was an accident." She smiled at him. "Just be careful with the milk next time...C'mon, lets take off your shirt so you can go change into a clean one right quick."

Graham let down his suspenders, and Arrah helped him unbutton the shirt some so he could easily slip out of it. Arrah took the shirt and put it with rest of the dirty clothes that she was to wash that afternoon. Arrah bent over and picked Leslie up, as he was running around the room as wild as a three year old little boy could be!

"Land sake's, Graham! Looks like you'll have to change your underclothing too!...The milk has soaked through! Go on. Get going!" She said, slapping Graham on the rear end, and he ran off to his room to change his clothes. The suspenders were dangling at his thighs as he went. He unbuttoned the front of his brown trousers and the suspenders that were attached and took them off, dropping them onto the floor, and he shed himself of his long-johns. Graham's skinny, lanky body was just beginning to develop as a young boy's body should, but he was concerned that he was too short. All the children his age were already taller than him. He wasn't sure how to talk about these kind of things to Cage, and he knew talking about them to Arrah wouldn't be the thing to do. She was a woman and wouldn't know what to tell him. She wouldn't understand about boy things. He went and grabbed a new pair of reddish-pink long-johns and put them on, buttoning them all the way up and he put his brown trousers back on. All the while, Graham thought somebody was watching him. He looked out his window to see if there was someone out there. He didn't see anyone, but he closed the curtains anyway. He picked out a red shirt and put that on, tucking it into his trousers. He heard Arrah calling him.

"Comin' Arrah!" He hollered. He grabbed his suspenders and pulled them on and left the room. Outside, a little, blonde, eight-year-old girl came out from the bushes and saw that the curtains to Graham's window were closed.

"Oh, fiddlesticks!...I barely saw anything! All I saw was Graham in his dumb trousers and suspenders!" The young girl grabbed her tin lunch pail and headed off to the school.

"Hurry up Graham! We're gonna be late!" Drew hollered. He was waiting for Graham in the yard and was starting to get annoyed by his brother always lagging behind.

"I'm comin' Drew!" Graham's boyish voice yelled, grabbing his lunch pail from Arrah. She followed them out into the yard and gave both boys a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You boys be good at school today! And as soon as school's over come home, I've got some jobs for you to do."

"Hey Arrah! You've got your 'visiting' dress on today!" Graham observed.

Arrah smoothed out a few wrinkles on the dark blue cotton dress with gold buttons, just like the rust-colored one, except on the blue one, the buttons had pine trees engraved on them, instead of flowery vines. "I'm going to make some social calls and run a few errands today...I might visit the widow Hosek, Laura says she's been so lonely since her husband Cal died...She needs a friend." She said, putting on her dark gray Sunday bonnet. "Now run along to school!...Hurry now!"

"Bye!" The boys said and started to run off. Leslie started to follow them, but Arrah held him back by the hem of his little nightshirt.

"Oh no you don't, Mr. Leslie!" She laughed and picked him up. He wiggled in her arms to get free.

"I wanna go to school tooooo!" He whined.

"Les, you won't be going to school for a couple years yet!...You're comin' visiting with me today!"

"Where's Cage?" Leslie asked, looking up at Arrah's pretty face.

"With Mr. Wilder, working at the mill."

"Can we go see 'em?" Leslie asked.

"No sir we will not!...Its not a place for us to be...It's quite dangerous for a little one like you especially."

"Aww, shucks!" He says and sticks out his lower lip while crossing his little arms.

"Now don't you be having a bad attitude!...C'mon let's go get you dressed." Arrah walked into the house carrying Leslie, and went to his room and got him changed into a brown-checked shirt and brown trousers. She came back into the kitchen with him following close behind her, and grabbing her rose-printed calico handbag, they headed out the door. They walked into town and made their first stop at the mercantile. Arrah walked through the door holding Leslie's little hand. Mr. Willie Oleson was at the counter smiling down at the little boy. They approached the counter and Arrah picked Leslie up and balanced him on her hip. "Won't you say 'hello' to Mr. Oleson, Leslie?" She whispered in his ear.

Leslie was being a little shy and he buried his face in Arrah's shoulder. "Say 'hello!' Don't be so shy Leslie, Mr. Oleson's a very nice man..."

"Can I get a high five, little bud?" Willie asked, holding out his large hand. Leslie stared at his hand a few seconds, then he grinned and slapped his little hand on top of Willie's much larger one.

"Such a cute kid." Willie smiled. He tapped his hands on top of the counter-top a few times. "So,...what can I do you for Mrs. Lay?"

"I'd just like to look at some of your bolts of fabric...I was thinking of making some new shirts for the boys and for Cage..."

"And nothing for you?"

"No sir...And like I said, I'd just like to look at the fabrics..." Arrah smiled.

"Here you are then..." He said pulling out two bolts of calico fabric. One, a blue striped pattern, and the other, and brown plaid pattern. Arrah ran her hands over the soft fabric.

"Isn't it pretty, Leslie?" She asked him, and Leslie reached out to touch one of the patterns. "Do you like the brown one?" Arrah smiled at him. He nodded his head and smiled.

"I do too." She smiled.

"Would you like me to save it for you, Mrs. Lay?" Willie asked, putting the calico bolts back on the shelf.

"No thank you, Mr. Oleson...I'd like to talk to my husband before I make any purchases." Arrah smiled, and transferred Leslie onto her other hip.

"Seems only right." Willie said.

Arrah smiled and nodded and then turned her head and smiled at Leslie. "Well, I guess we better get a move on Les, say goodbye to Mr. Oleson!"

Leslie grinned at Willie. "Bye-bye, Mr. Oleeeson!"

Willie laughed and leaned over the counter and whispered to the three-year-old boy. "My name is Mr. Oleson...but you can call me Mr. Oleeeson if you want to." And with that, Willie ruffled the three-year-old's head of blond hair.

"Well goodbye for now, Mr. Oleson. Tell Rachel we'll see her in church on Sunday." Arrah smiled and turned to leave.

"I will...Oh wait!...Before you go, I've got a little something for the boys to enjoy!" Willie said, filling a small sack full of candy and handing it to her. Arrah was about to protest, but it was too late, Leslie's eyes got as big as saucers and he grinned like a little Cheshire cat at the sight of all that yummy candy! Arrah smiled and laughed silently at the face Leslie made. "What do you say to Mr. Oleson for the candy, Leslie?"

Leslie smiled as wide as could be. "Thank you!" He exclaimed.

"You're welcome kiddo!" Willie told the young boy. "I learned from the best, I guess...My Pa used to give out candy to all his younger customers...Well, when my sister and I didn't get into it first!" Willie laughed. It made Arrah giggle, thinking of all that Laura had told her about Nellie and Willie. "Well, goodbye, Mr. Oleson." Arrah smiled and nodded and walked toward the door. All the way there, Leslie was smiling and waving his little hand goodbye to Willie and it made him smile as well. "Such a cute little rascal!" Willie said to himself, when Arrah and Leslie disappeared out the door.

Arrah and Leslie walked through town awhile and then came to the widow Hosek's house. A lovely little place, with beautiful scenery and a little house that looked like it was straight out of Czechoslovakia. Arrah gazed all around her...She could tell the fields were at one time plowed...but hadn't been for some time. They were just bare...No crop anymore. By the side of the little cottage were two gardens. One, a very large flower garden and the other garden was chalk full of different kinds of produce. Arrah figured that this was this older woman's only form of income now, but then a chicken ran past her and Leslie. Arrah gazed over and saw the small chicken coop. She looked over at the chicken which was running wild all over the place! Arrah laughed, taking Leslie's hand and ran all over the yard chasing the chicken and put her back in the chicken coop with the other hens. Arrah locked the chicken coop and picked Leslie up and walked up to the front door. She knocked on it a few times, and even Leslie rapped on the door, wanting to help. After several minutes a short, slender but not a bit feeble, older lady in her late fifties, opened the door. She was strong and as healthy as a horse. Her hair was salt-and peppery. A deep, dark brown with gray hairs here and there. It was pulled back into a bun.

At first, the older lady spoke in her native language. "halo!nazdar! Jak se máte?" 

Arrah just stared at her. She didn't know how to speak Czech. The older woman laughed at her a little. "I said, 'Hello! How are you?'"

"Um...I'm doing very well, Mrs. Hosek...I thought I would just stop by for awhile...My name is Arrah Lay...I'm your new neighbor...About twenty miles down the road I'd say..."

Mrs Hosek's kind, deep brown eyes beamed with laughter. "Well, don't just stand there!...Come in...come in!"

Arrah stepped inside, with young Leslie on her hip.

"Oh, you're such a pretty young thing!...How old are you, dearie?"

"I'm nineteen, Mrs. Hosek." Arrah smiled.

The older woman started talking to herself, remembering sweet little memories of her past. Though she spoke in English, you could still hear a bit of Czech in her accent. "...Oh Kitty,...Do you remember when you were nineteen?...Newly married and first settled in this very house...With Cal..." She smiled, remembering her late husband. "He was such a caring, loving, hardworking man...Soft, wavy brown hair and a pair of charming blue eyes that just radiated love...Oh, enough of an old woman rambling on!" Kitty said, snapping back into reality. "So who is this little half-bag of sweet sugar?" Kitty smiled at Leslie, who was looking up at her. "Is he your son?" She asked.

"This is Leslie...and no...he's not my son...He's my brother-in-law." Arrah smiled.

"Oh how interesting!...And pardon my manners! Let me get you two something to drink and a little something to eat." Kitty said, browsing through her tiny kitchen. "And don't you try and say no to me!...I love feeding people and watching people eat!...Now you two just sit there at the table." Arrah took off her gray bonnet and sat down at the kitchen table and pulled Leslie onto her lap. Both looked around the room, which was filled with all things Czech. On shelves on the walls were all sorts of china: a few sugar bowls, soup bowls, cups and saucers, dinner plates, desert plates, anything you could think of! Kitty also had little trinkets and things from Czechoslovakia all throughout her home. Though she didn't wear the traditional costume of the Czech people anymore, she had a dress and other things hanging on the walls of the tiny front room. Kitty set out some tea plates and some little cups, all which were white and had little pink roses on them.

"Oh how beautiful, Mrs. Hosek!"

"Thank you sweetie! It was a wedding present from my dear Cal's family...And you can call me Kitty."

"Is your real name Katherine?" Arrah asked.

"No...its just Kitty." She smiled and went to go get the tea-pot off of the stove-top. She heard it whistling. Kitty returned, carrying the tea-pot and filled up her and Arrah's cups. She went rumaging through her kitchen and returned with a glass of milk for Leslie and a plate full of Czech desserts.

"Oh Kitty, those look wonderful!" Arrah said, taking a pastry filled with fruit preserves in the center of it, and tasting it after saying a silent prayer of thanks to God for the little treat and for the fellowship with this dear lady. "Oh,...mmmm! They taste wonderful too!" Arrah smiled. "What are they called?"

"They're called Kolaches, pretty one!...And we Czech people are serious about our food! As serious as a heart attack!" She laughed. "My Cal always said, Fat is flavor, grease is good and cholesterol is your friend!"

"Cal seemed like such an interesting man! " Arrah smiled.

Kitty sighed happily. "He was, Lord bless him...Oh, but he's gone to meet His Lord and Saviour up in Gloryland!"

"How long ago?" Arrah asked Kitty.

"A year ago." Kitty replied solemnly. "And sometimes these days, I feel I'm not far behind him!" She sighed, grasping her tea-cup.

"Oh don't say that Kitty!...You don't look a day over 50!"

Kitty chuckled and stretched out her hand across the table to Arrah's slender one and patted it. "I turned 59 last month, dear child!"

"But your hair!...You barely have any gray in it!" Arrah exclaimed.

Kitty's hands smoothed over her deep brown hair that did show some gray in it, and she chuckled. "Well, the Good Lord certainly has been kind to this old woman!"

"I can see He has...and He gave you a wonderful man who loved you very much." Arrah smiled.

"Oh, that he did. That he did!...Would you like to see a photograph of my dear Cal?"

"Yes I would, Kitty."

"Well, I will go get the photographs, but first, how about you two have another Kolache!" Kitty said, giving little Leslie a strawberry-filled Kolache. His eyes went wide and a huge smile crept across his face. "Well, look at that smile!...He's just as cute as a button!" She said, with her hands on her hips and went down the hall and into her bedroom. Kitty came back a few minutes later with two framed photographs. One of Cal in his twenties and the other was of Cal about a few years before he died. They looked at the picture of Cal in his younger years. "My goodness, Kitty! Cal certainly was a looker in his younger days!" Arrah said, looking at the picture. She saw the kind-looking eyes, the wavy, dark brown hair that was parted on the right side, and in the corners of his mouth were dimples that made him seem almost boyish.

Kitty chuckled. "Why do you think I married the man?" Arrah laughed along with Kitty, knowing she was only joking with her. Kitty gazed at the picture and wonderful memories of her and Cal flooded her mind. "We were a partnership,...him and me..." She smiled, tears almost flooding her eyes. She missed him. So much that words couldn't express it. "We worked this very farmland...together...I know many a time I found myself behind a plow, working my fingers to the bone alongside Cal..." Kitty clutched the picture to her chest and she looked over at the pretty young woman. "Arrah,...stand by your man. You two are a team...Give that man all your love, all your faith,...submit to him..." She paused and picked up the other picture of Cal. "Cherish your years together, Arrah. For someday, one of you will be gone...and you'll miss those years when you two were together..." She set the photograph of Cal in his twenties on the table and showed the other to Arrah. She saw the same kind-looking, smiling eyes, but the face was wrinkled with age. Deep lines had settled in his face, by his lips down to his jawline. His head was bald, except for some silver hair on the sides.

"What happened to all his hairs?" Leslie asked.

Kitty looked over and chuckled at the little boy. Smiling, she leaned forward and spoke to him softy, "He was a bad boy and so I cut it all off..."

Believing what Kitty said was true, Leslie went wide-eyed. He spoke up shyly. "...When I'm a bad boy, I get a spankin'...Its no fun at all...It hurts!...Why didn't you give him a spankin' if he was a bad boy? Why'd you cut off all his hairs?"

"Leslie!..." Arrah looked at Leslie, astonished at what he said. Kitty laughed, she thought he was as cute as a little bug's ear!

Kitty got up and put her hands on Leslie's shoulders. She squeezed them gently as if she were giving him a hug. "Well Leslie, spankings are for children...aren't they."

Leslie blinked his big chocolate brown eyes and was silent, as he was thinking. Then his eyes lit up! "And he's a growed-up! So he don't need no spankin's!"

Kitty smiled. "That's right." She went back to sit down at the table to talk with Arrah. Kitty told Leslie to eat another Kolache, so Leslie grabbed another one. This time, a blueberry-filled Kolache. He took a huge bite out of it. Moments later, Kitty and Arrah looked over at Leslie and suddenly burst into laughter. He had blueberry preserves all over his face! Arrah took a handkerchief and cleaned Leslie up. He was such a mess! Blueberry preserves were everywhere! Especially on his hands, they were so sticky!

Back at the schoolyard, the school-children were outside having recess. Games of blind man's wand, deerstalker, hoops and sticks, and marbles were in full swing. One of the boys gathered his stockings into a ball and they were playing a game of townball. Drew was one of the captains and the other oldest boy, Ethan Keller, who was two years younger than Drew, was the other captain. Rose Wilder, much like her mother at that age, was playing with the boys. She was on Ethan's team.

Jenny Wilder was sitting on the front steps with the other girls her age. They were talking and laughing and one of the girls, Hattie Keller, Ethan's twin sister, got everyone's attention. "C' mon! Lets play a game of "The Needle's Eye." With that, all the childern lined up, eight feet apart, boys on one side, girls on the other. "Amy, you start it off!" Hattie said to one of the girls.

Amy Christiansen, started it off by chanting, "_The needle's eye that doth supply, the thread that runs so true; I stump my toe, and down I go, All for the want of you_!" Then, she ran as hard as she could and tried to break through the clenched hands of Ethan Keller and a fourteen-year-old boy named Roy Albero. She broke through and accidentally knocked Roy down on the ground. She was on top of him, and both of them were laughing and everyone was staring at them. Amy got up, dusted herself off and Roy was picking himself off of the ground as well. "Guess you didn't know your own strength!" Roy laughed.

"I guess so." Amy said, her face now turning red. Roy and Amy stood there, looking at each other. Roy smiled and said, "Uh...um...I guess we better get back to the game." "Right." Amy said, and both joined their lines.

"Wait a minute!...I gotta use the outhouse!" Graham said, taking off toward the little building.

"Can't you wait till AFTER the game's over?" Drew hollered.

Graham looked back and yelled. "No I can't!...I REALLY gotta go!" He took off running and finally made it the outhouse, let down his suspenders and opened the front of his trousers. He was doing his business and he looked around and saw a blue eye peeking through one of the holes in the outhouse. "Who's there!" Graham asked, but the bearer of the blue eye didn't answer. "Get out of here!...Quit peeking in at me!" Graham looked at the wooden outhouse wall in front of him and went back to take care of his business...Moments later, Graham looked again and saw that the blue eye was still looking through the peep-hole. Graham rears back, points himself in the direction of the peep-hole...And all of a sudden, you hear this high-pitched wail, "YOU PEED IN MY EYE!" The little blond haired girl went into the direction of town, wailing all the way, "Maaaaaammmaaa!...MAAAAAAAMMMMAAAA!...He peed in my eye!...Graham Lay PEED in my EYE!" Graham leaned out the door of the outhouse and hollered in the girl's direction, "Now that'll teach you to peek in on somebody!...Won't it!" As Graham came out of the outhouse, all the school-children stared at him. Then, the boys all started laughing their heads off! Some were rolling around on the ground!...The girls on the other hand, just looked disgustedly at Graham.

"What!...She shouldn't have been peeking in on me!...I told her to go away and she wouldn't!"

Drew came over and layed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder. He couldn't stop laughing, but he managed to get some words out..."I don't think she'll be bothering you any longer, Graham!" Then, as Drew went back into hystarical laughter, he held his side because it hurt so much from laughing so hard!

The children heard the school bell ringing and saw that Miss Corrie Sonnen, the school mistress, was calling the children back to class. "Recess is over, children!...Let's get back to our studies and then we'll have a lunch break!" The girls entered the building first and the boys followed them. Miss Sonnen waited till the last student was in the building and she followed them in. The boys went to one side of the classroom and the girls were on the other. Each student stood by their desks until Miss Sonnen allowed them to be seated. She scanned the classroom and saw that one of her students was missing.

"Has anyone seen, Emma Sue Causer?" The whole classroom burst into laughter. Twenty-three year old Corrie Sonnen got her students to quiet down. "That's enough class!...I asked all of you a question. Where is Emma Sue Causer?" The laughter died down some and EVERYONE looked right at Graham. Miss Corrie came and stood in front of Graham's desk. "Graham, have you seen Emma Sue?"

"Um...uh...um, well..." Graham stuttered.

"Well,...have you, Mr. Lay?" Corrie asked, with her hands on her hips. She looked at him, and Graham felt as if her eyes were tearing into him like a lioness tears into her prey.

"Umm..." Graham gulped. "Yes ma'am..." He said quietly.

"Care to tell me where she is?"

"Um, well...Uh, you see,...She went home...She's not feeling all too good." The whole classroom roared with laughter!

"Children!" Miss Corrie raised her voice. "That's quite enough!...All of you! Get back to your studies! Now!...Sixth through Eighth Grade, open your McGuffey readers to page 42 and read two chapters. Third through Fifth, turn to page 17 read it and write down each word you don't understand and for homework, do a word study on those words. You First and Second Graders, work on your alphabet please."

Graham turned to page 17 in his reader and began to read. "Graham, may I see you outside for a moment?" Miss Sonnen asked.

"Yes, Miss Sonnen." Graham winced. He knew he was in trouble. He just knew it. He got up and followed his teacher outside, his shoulders hunched forward.

"I know what you did to Emma Sue, Graham." Corrie said, leaning herself against an oak tree.

"Yes ma'am...I'll go get the leather strap..." Graham said, and turned to go, but she stopped him.

"No need Graham...In a way, I'm glad you did what you did. You stood up for yourself..."

"But...Emma Sue..."

"Yes,...she shouldn't have done what she did either. She was also just curious..."

"What are you gonna do to her?" Graham asked.

"Not one thing...I think she's learned her lesson!"

That made Graham laugh a little. "All she wanted to do was peek at me, but she got more than she bargained for!"

Miss Corrie made a face and inwardly laughed. "I'm letting you off with a warning this time...Now c'mon...lets get back to class. All right?" She smiled.

"Yes Ma'am." Graham said and walked back into the school building.

Back at the widow Hosek's house, Kitty, Arrah and Leslie were in the front room. Beautiful music was coming from an instrument called a dulcimer. Kitty was playing the wonderful hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" Arrah just couldn't help herself and started to sing,

_"Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love." _

"You have a beautiful voice, child." Kitty said.

"Thank you, Kitty." Arrah smiled, her cheeks were turning a little shade of pink.

"Sing the second verse with me, will you?" Kitty said and started to play the hammered dulicmer again. They sang the second verse together.

_"Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."_

"Could you sing the next verse by yourself, Arrah?...It was always Cal's favorite." Kitty smiled.

Arrah sang, _"O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."_

"Beautiful, child!...Oh that was just beautiful!" Kitty said, dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.

"Thank you, Kitty...I never really thought of my voice as beautiful."

"It is!...It is,...oh have some faith and believe in yourself, child!"

Kitty played yet another hymn on the dulcimer, another one of Cal's favorites, _"Ring the Bells of Heaven" _ Arrah noticed one word that stood out to her in both songs: wandering.

"Was Cal a wanderer?" Arrah asked.

Kitty chuckled. "Only in his heart!" She thought once more of her late husband, and her lips formed into a smile. "Oh...I'm sure there were times where he wanted to travel...See the world...but he never did."

"Why not?" Arrah asked.

Kitty sighed happily and spoke, "We both fell in love with each other...Soon we married and I guess Cal thought that traveling all over the globe with his new wife just wasn't feesable...There are many things in this life that would be nice to do...but sometimes they just aren't feesable...Oh,...I would've loved to have gone with him if he had...Just to be with him...Talking with my dear Cal was wonderful...Communication is one of the most important things in a marriage, I think...but oh...I enjoyed just being with him! It was enough for me...For the both of us, I think. " She smiled.

"He probably figured that that sort of life wouldn't be right for a wife...and children." Arrah said.

"Oh...No...Cal and I never had any children of our own..." Kitty said. Her chipper and bright mood had changed. She quickly changed the subject and started to clear the table of the tea cups and plates.

"I'm sorry, Kitty." Arrah said quickly.

"What for, child?" Kitty asked, a slight smile was on her face.

"For what I said...It upset you...I never should've said anything...It's not my right to."

"Oh,...you didn't upset me one bit, child." Kitty said, smiling.

The boys' day of school was soon over and they came home, Drew changed into some working clothes and went out to help Cage plow the fields. Drew was wearing a brown shirt and trousers. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and got behind one of the plows. He started to work and Cage was already hard at work on one of the fields that he was almost finished plowing. Meanwhile, nine year old Graham was chopping and gathering the wood to stock the wood pile. Arrah was inside, fixing up a hearty supper of hickory-smoked carp, fried potatoes and asparagus. Leslie was in the front room, playing with his wooden 'pioneers' and 'indians'. Arrah had put the tea on the stove-top and began to set the table for supper. Leslie came in from the front room and lifted his arms up, wanting to be put into hs chair at the table. "Please lift me up!"

Arrah smiled at Leslie, picked him up and set him in his chair. Graham came through the front door and was about to take off his coat.

"Graham...did you wash up for supper?"

"No ma'am." He said quietly.

"Go and do, please." She said, placing a plate of smoked carp, fried potatoes and asparagus on the table.

"Yes ma'am." Graham said and raced out the door to do so. Cage and Drew had washed up for supper and headed to their rooms to change their clothes. They came downstairs to join Arrah, Leslie and Graham at the kitchen table. Cage said a quick prayer of thanks for their meal. And began to ask his wife and brothers about their days. Graham was dreading it...He didn't want to tell them what he did to the little blonde girl.

"Graham...I uh...heard you had an interesting day with that Causer girl..."

Drew could'nt help but snicker.

"Drew...hush please." Arrah scolded him. Drew lowered his head and pulled off a piece of carp with his fork and quickly stuck the morsel into his mouth.

Everyone looked at Graham. Cage knew what Graham did to Emma Sue, but he just wanted to hear the boy say it.

Graham was sweating, and he felt that all eyes were on him, staring holes right into him. He gulped and quietly began to speak. "I peed in her eye." Graham muttered.

"What was that, Graham?" Cage asked, munching on a fried potato wedge.

"I peed in her eye, ok!" He practically yelled. That made Cage, Drew and Leslie burst into laughter.

"I don't think this is very funny." Arrah said, flatly.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Cage muttered. He admitted that this wasn't the kind of topic to be talking about at the suppertable.

"I think its hilarious!" Arrah exclaimed and started to laugh, which made Cage, Drew and Leslie laugh as well. Graham soon began to loosen up and began to laugh. Leslie was laughing big belly-laughs, which made everyone laugh even harder!

"Bet from now on she'll have a special gleam in her eye when she sees you, Graham!" Drew said, laughing his head off.


	14. Chapter 14

Months had passed and the Lay's were settled in a normal routine...Drew and Graham were going to school, Cage was working at the saw mill...and Arrah was into her normal routine of a young housewife...Mrs. Hosek offered to watch Leslie in the afternoons, so Arrah could get some much-needed work done. Arrah was so greatful for that...because sometimes, Leslie could be a lot to handle!...Almost every day, Arrah liked to go for a walk into town to have a little time to herself and to get shopping done at the mercantile...whatever she needed to do that day...She had just come from the mercantile...and she bought Cage a little something...for their first wedding anniversary was nearing.

Arrah was singing a hymn softly to herself when she heard someone call her.

"Mrs. Lay!...A letter for you!" The post-mistress called out.

Arrah made her way over to the post office..."Good afternoon, Cherith...How's your day been?" She smiled...

" Its been all right so far...Who's your letter from?" The girl asked, craning her neck to see better...

Arrah read the address, smiled and her eyes lit up..."Its from my folks!..."

"Oh, I hope its good news..."

Arrah's brown eyes skimmed over the letter..."Wonderful news! They're coming here next month!...I'll get to see my parents and my two younger sisters!...My older brother, Bennet, the one I've told you of...He's finally married off now!...Well, its about time!" Arrah laughed. "I thought I'd have to write in my next letter and tell that boy to stop beatin' the Devil around the stump and marry that girl!" Arrah and Cherith laughed a moment and Arrah went on..."He and his new bride are living in Arizona...They say they wished I could've been there and sorry that they didn't get word to me sooner..."

"Maybe you'll get to see them soon...And look on the bright side...you'll get to see your sisters." Cherith smiled.

"True..." Arrah smiled...then she laughed..."I hope I'll still recognize them. Last I saw of them was at our wedding,...its been a whole year!...Callah's 13 now...and Pearl's 11...My goodness! I feel old!...I'm 20 and I feel old!" She laughed, jokingly. "Well, I'll see you later, Cherith...I'm gonna head on over to the mill and tell Cage... See you!"

"Bye, Mrs. Lay..." Cherith smiled and went back to her work.

Arrah strolled on over to the mill. "CAGE!...Cage!" She tried to yell over all the noise...He looked up and saw her and smiled and stopped working.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!...How's the prettiest woman in Mansfield this afternoon?" Cage smiled, and leaned forward to kiss her lips.

"Cage..." Arrah smiled, her cheeks turning red.

"What's that you've got there?" He asked, noticing the letter...

"A letter from Ma and Pa...They and the girls are coming for a visit next month!..." Arrah said excitedly.

Cage laughed. "No Bennet?..."

"No...He's married now and living in Arizona...He and Lydia appoligized for not getting word to us sooner. They knew we'd want to have been there..."

"Well, what can ya do?..." Cage shrugged his shoulders..."Mail only travels so fast..."

"I know...Well, I'm gonna go over to Kitty's and pick up Leslie...and head home and start on supper...Bye!" She said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and started off.

"What's the menu tonight?" Cage called to her.

"You'll find out!" She looked back and hollered. Arrah laughed to herself and set out for Mrs. Hosek's place...She made it to Kitty's place and she let her inside. "Thank you for watching him today! Was he a good boy, Kitty?"

"He was...Sweetest little thing you ever did meet...I'd say he could put angels to shame."

Arrah laughed. "On a good day, I'm sure...on a bad day...now that I won't say!..."

Kitty chuckled..."You seem extra cheerful today..."

"I am...My folks are coming to visit!"

"Oh, how wonderful!...When?"

"Next month..." Arrah smiled.

"Well, I hope you enjoy them while they're here...Who's all coming?"

"My Ma and Pa...and my two little sisters...Callah, who's 13 and Pearl, who's 11..."

"Oh, two precious young girls, I'm sure..."

"Sweetest little things you ever did meet!" Arrah smiled, and winked at Kitty..."Well, I'll see you later Kitty...We have to be getting home..."

"See you, young one..." Kitty smiled, giving her a friendly hug...

"Remember...We are picking you up on Sunday morning, bright and early." Arrah said, smiling and pointing a finger at her.

"I'll be here..." Kitty smiled. "And you all better come over after services and have Sunday dinner with me!..."

"We will...Bye Kitty!" She looked back and waved as she and Leslie headed for home...Kitty leaned in the doorframe and watched them go..."Such a lively, spirited young thing, isn't she?" She said to herself. "Reminds you of someone doesn't it?..." Mrs. Hosek smiled and went back inside...

The month had passed and Arrah, Cage and the boys were waiting for the stagecoach to get into town...

"There's the stage, Arrah." Drew said.

"They're here!" Leslie shouted, running up to the stagecoach as it stopped. Leslie always liked to meet new people, and he only met them once before...Two young girls with reddish-brown hair, just like Arrah's, got off the stage and immediately saw their older sister and ran to her.

"Callah...Pearly!" She said, wrapping her arms around her little sisters. "You girls are so grown up! So pretty!...Look at you both!...I just can't believe it!"

"We've missed you, Arrah..." Callah said.

"I've missed you too..." She said, hugging them and went to her parents...

"Ma!" Arrah said, enveloping her mother in a hug. "I've missed you..."

"Oh, I've missed you too...How are you, my daughter?"

"Just grand, Ma...Hi Pa..." Arrah said...hugging her father...

"Looks like you've been taking care of my little girl all right, Cage." Harrison said, shaking his hand. "I'd say she's been taking good care of you too...Put on some weight since we last saw you, have you?" He joked.

"And muscle..." Cage laughed...

"Good for you, boy. You always were a lanky young thing...Amazing what hard work'll do for you!" He teased his son-in-law.

"Well, lets get to the house and y'all can rest awhile..."

"So how are Micah and Amos and their little families?" Arrah wondered, setting out snacks and cups of tea.

"Micah and Claire are doing just fine...Little Owen's growing like a weed! He's almost a year old now!...and Amos and Stella are getting into parenthood...They had their little girl last month... Sarah Faith, they named her...such a precious little thing..." Josephine beamed.

"Glad to be a grandmother again, Ma?" Arrah smiled.

"Yes...and I must ask you when you'll make me a grandmother once again...What's taking you so long, daughter!...You haven't forgotten how, now have you?" She smirked.

Arrah almost choked on what she was eating..."Ma!...Of course not!..." She hesisted. "I'm sure my time will come...Sooner or later..."

"Well its been a year already...How often have you two tried?"

"I don't think this is the type of thing to talking about in front of everyone, mother!"

"Tried what?" Graham asked curiously.

Arrah turned as red as a cherry...Drew covered for her. "Cage and Arrah will tell you when you're a bit older, Graham...Say, 13 or so...That's when Ma and Pa told me..."

"You know what they're talking about!...That's not fair! Why'd they tell you and not me?"

"Because I'm older..."

"That's not fair, you're always older!...And I don't turn 13 for three years yet!"

"Be quiet and stop your arguing, Graham..." Cage ordered.

"Yes sir..." Graham said, but with a slight rebellious tone...

"Cut the attitude, Graham!..." Drew said.

"Shut up, Drew."

"Don't say that to your brother!" Cage scolded him..."Go to you room, now...I'll be there in a minute..."

Graham got up from his seat and stomped his way to him and his brothers' room...

"I'm sorry...I don't know what's gotten into him, he's never like this..." Cage appoligized to his inlaws and followed his younger brother into his room...

"Oh, I can't believe my own mother!...'_You haven't forgotten how, now have you?'" _Arrah mocked. She was laying in bed with her husband that night, the boys in their room, her parents and sisters staying in a hotel.

Cage laughed..."She was just teasing you!"

"I love my mother...but sometimes she can be...difficult...hard to stand..." Arrah sighed.

"Don't let her get you down..." Cage said, rolling over, and his hand found her back and embraced her. His lips found the crook of her neck and he covered her with kisses...He went lower and even placed his hands up her nightgown and sweetly carressed the rest of her body...

Arrah rolled over and glared at him. "Cage...Not tonight..."

"And why not..." He grumbled, as his attempt was rejected.

"I have a headache..." She said, rolling back over on her side...

"...I don't like this a couple of times a week, thing...I have urges, Arrah! Right powerful ones!"

"Control them, why don't you..." She said, closing her eyes...


End file.
